


The Watchers

by Darby_Harper



Series: Brave New World-The Changeling Universe [2]
Category: Rammstein
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, F/M, Government Conspiracy, M/M, Polyamory, Psychic Abilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-26 20:09:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 35,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10793886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darby_Harper/pseuds/Darby_Harper
Summary: They are the Watchers. They know everything about everyone and will not hesitate to eliminate those who try to find out their secrets. They are the guardians of the mythical, the legendary, the unseen, and now they are tasked to keep an eye on Rammstein as they begin the second leg of their world tour.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **DISCLAIMER: Any similarity between the fictional version of the person portrayed here and the actual person is purely coincidental. This is a work of fiction. This is not an attempt to defame the character of said person on the basis of libel, as the work is FICTIONAL (and NOT an intently false statement created with the express purpose of misleading others about the actual character of said person). All rights reserved.**

::::

February 2, 20--

My dear Mister Smith:

I am hoping you had a quiet and restful holiday season.

As I am sure you know, we have a new crop of Subjects on our Watcher list. Our American counterparts supplied this office with hard copies of their files along with a portable hard drive with the same documents as well as videos and photographs for our use. Since you are one of our younger associates and more than ready for the promotion, I have assigned them to you. You are hereby authorized to set up your own office with all the “bells and whistles” and hire your staff at your discretion. We are on something of a deadline, so please complete all of these tasks within the next two weeks.

If you have any questions about your assignment or anything related to this, please do not hesitate to contact my office. I look forward to working with you in this new capacity and wish you luck.

Sincerely,

Mister Jones

::

Memorandum

February 3, 20--

To: Mr. Jones

From: Mister Smith

RE: New subjects for Watcher List and Promotion

CC: Ms. Walters, Accounting, Personnel, File

Mr. Jones:

Thank you for your letter of February 2, 20--. I hereby accept the promotion offered to me and hope I will be able to uphold our group's motto: “ _We Watch_.” I have a list of possible candidates for my work group and will forward them to you by close of business today. The list is not a long one; hopefully all of the people on the list will be what we're looking for and we will not need to open up interviews as time is of the essence.

I have reviewed the files the American office sent to us and I'll have to say we have our work cut out for us. They did a good job keeping our new subjects unaware of their presence, except for the “unknown” person (or persons) who caused such trouble late last year. Hopefully there will be no more of these events and everything will settle out quietly.

Again, I thank you for the promotion and look forward to working with your office in this new capacity.

:::

February 9, 20--

From: gillian.duprix@***.com

To: smithandjones@***.com

Subject: YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME

Smitty:

YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME. You want _me_ as part of your new workgroup? And we're to keep our eye on WHO?? How in the world did this end up in your lap, my friend?

Of course I'd be glad to join your work group! I'll be e-mailing you in a day or so with more questions and where to send the chocolates and champagne. If I were a teenage girl, I'd be “squeeing” my head off right now.

:::

February 15, 20—

From: [smithandjones@***.com](mailto:smithandjones@***.com)

To: [wingcommander98@***.com](mailto:wingcommander98@***.com)

Subject: Requested research for newest subjects on Watcher list

Mr. Smith:

Attached are the results of my research you requested last week. Please let me know if you need anything else. It is a pleasure to work with you again.

**ATTACHMENT A: Medical**

The six new subjects on the List are aged 47-53. All are in good health, considering their lifestyle and what they do for a living. Observations show that they no longer use tobacco or illegal drugs, alcohol consumption is well within normal. Observations also have revealed that the subjects do not look like men in their late 40s’-early 50’s; in fact, comparison of photographs taken last year versus ones from three years previous show a definite change overall (see attachments 1-6).

It is my belief that these observations are all due to their exposure to the Rammeleid (R+) virus by Dr. N. Williams. Blood, tissue and hair samples obtained by our US counterparts show that there have been changes to their DNA that cannot be natural. It is as if their bodies have been ‘reset’ to their late 20’s-early 30’s, undoing almost all of the environmental damage done to their bodies over the years.

Another observation is the development of psychic abilities, enhanced healing, enhanced strength, hearing, sight and smell. The observer who compiled the original report said that he hadn’t seen such developments in such a short amount of time in many years, especially in people over the age of 11. At this time it is my theory that the psychic abilities shown were already there, the R+ virus activated them as well as providing the enhancements listed above.

**ATTACHMENT B: Miscellaneous**

There is a woman who has been seen traveling with them; she is listed on the employee roster as the tour physician and a check of her background shows that she has her Master’s in Nursing, plus a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology. She also published a paper on her research when she was employed with the now-bankrupt and out of business Vis-Tek Laboratories. She was employed as a researcher, doing work on engineering an AIDS vaccination and on viruses in general; her research paper was well-received by the medical community. She is reported to have been more than capable at her job and it is my understanding that she may continue to be employed as the tour doctor.

**CONCLUSIONS:** This group of people aren’t like anyone we’ve had on the list for a couple of decades. I suggest we put them on the Medium Level list and only interact when it is a life or death situation.

Also suggest that we need to have the US office forward all of their findings on the test of N. William’s remains ASAP.

 


	2. Chapter 2

“Till, where in the world do you keep your dish washing soap?”

Till peered around the corner of the kitchen at Lilly, who was standing at the sink, hands resting against a pile of dirty dishes. I’d begun searching for the washing up soap several minutes earlier and was still digging through his pantry when Lilly called for him. “It’s under the sink, or it should be,” he said.

“That’s the first place I looked,” she replied, kneeling down to peer into the cabinets under the sink. I gave up on my search and went back into the kitchen, stopping to admire Lilly’s lovely behind from where it poked out from the under-sink cabinets. Till poked me in the ribs and raised his eyebrows; I winked at him and nudged his shoulder.

_**::You’ve got that gorgeous woman and you’re not in bed fucking her brains out? My dear Schneider, you’re losing your touch!::**_ Till snickered to me privately.

_**::Oh shut up, you ass!::**_ I snorted back. _**::I’m not losing anything, I’m just…I’m being a gentleman. You do remember how to treat a lady, don’t you?::**_

_**::And I know**_ _ **you**_ _ **and Reesh haven’t done anything either::**_ Till continued, openly ogling Lilly’s behind and shoving me over so he could get a better view. _**::I’m surprised you haven’t exploded from all that repressed longing.::**_

“My ears are burning, so I’m going to go with the theory that I’m being talked about?”

I turned and saw Richard strolling up the hallway, a Cheshire Cat smile on his lovely face. He leaned over my shoulder to see what Till and I were looking at and poked us both in the ribs. _**::You two realize if she sees us staring at her butt like hungry dogs looking at a hamburger we’re all going to hear it for days::**_

_**::I do but**_ _ **damn**_ _ **, it’s worth it::**_ Till purred. _**::Do you think we could find some way to clone her?::**_

“I know you boys are staring at my ass,” Lilly said as she pulled herself out of the cabinet and stood, brushing the knees of her jeans off. She had a bottle of washing up liquid in her hand that she deposited on the kitchen table as she walked over to us. “How close to finished are you three to being completely packed?”

“I’m almost done,” Till said, lifting her hands up and kissing the backs of them. “Your command is my desire, my lady.”

“HEY!” Richard protested, playfully swatting Till on the shoulder. “Do I go around kissing your girlfriends’ hands?” Till grinned at him and turned to me, lifting my hands up and kissing them. “And your command is my desire, my…erm…lord? Lady?”

I pulled my hands loose of Till’s grasp and thwacked him over the head with my knuckles. “Okay, so I liked playing a woman in a video and I liked my stage gear from the “Made In Germany” tour. Don’t rub it in, yeah?”

“I was just trying to cover all possibilities,” Till said as he rubbed the top of his head where I’d hit him. “Damn it, Schneider, you’ve got hard knuckles.”

“And you have a hard head,” Lilly said as she wrapped her arms around me and Richard. We snuggled close, with Richard reaching a hand out to take on of Till's. He showed us one of his rare, warm smiles that only those of us who were closest to him saw more than once a decade. We stood together for a moment, saying nothing, then with a sigh Till pulled his hand free of Richard's, saying, “I'm going to go finish packing. Lilly, you don't have to do those dishes, I'll get to them.”

“No, I'll get to them. I'm done packing, even down to the medical stuff. I know how you can put stuff off to the last minute,” Lilly said, wandering back into the kitchen and running water into the sink, following it with a hefty squirt of washing up liquid. Till sighed, raised his eyes heavenward and said, “Yes _Mutti_ , whatever you say, _Mutti_...” He left Richard and I standing awkwardly in the doorway; Lilly shot us a look over her shoulder and said, “Why don't you two go make sure you've got what you want to bring packed, okay?”

I looked at Richard, who was starting to blush and immediately got Lilly's meaning. “Uh, yeah, sure,” I said, towing him out of the hallway and up the stairs to the guest room I'd always stayed in when at Till's house. Dragging him inside, I shoved the door shut with my shoulder and locked it, stalking up to Richard, staring him down as I moved. His indigo-cobalt eyes were wide, pupils blown and he looked so gorgeous I could have eaten him up with a spoon. He backed up, tripping over his feet and falling to the bed with an “Umph!” Following him, I knelt on the bed, leaning over to brush my lips against his.

“I think we have a few moments to ourselves,” I said, brushing a lock of hair out of Richard's eyes. He stared back up at me, obviously startled by my sudden movement. “That is, if you've nothing else to do.”

_**::I...no, I don't have anything to do::**_ Richard replied, both aroused and embarrassed. We stared at each other for what seemed like forever, then as slowly as humanly possible, he leaned up and kissed me. It was a shy, shaky kiss, nothing like the one we'd exchanged months earlier but it was as wonderful as any kiss I'd ever had. I didn't press him to do more, I held still, eyes closed, and every barrier inside my head pulled down so there would be no walls between us.

_**::We don't have time for anything more physical::**_ I said, relishing the feeling of his fingers sliding through my hair and along my cheek. _**::But this...this is just fine::**_

Richard laughed quietly and rubbed his nose against mine in an Eskimo kiss. “We agreed to take things slowly, my love. We've got all the time in the world.”

I rested my head against his and smiled. “You're right. But I would like to kiss you some more if you don't mind.”

“Not a bit. Now shut up and get back to kissing me before Lilly finishes up with the dishes and hauls us downstairs to do something domestic,” Richard said, moving around so I could curl up against his side and get comfortable. We stayed that way for a half hour, occasionally kissing, murmuring verbally and not, and by the time we heard Ollie, Paul and Flake coming through Till's front door like a horde of Vikings we were on the verge of sleep. Yawning and putting our clothes to rights, I followed Richard downstairs to greet our friends.

Everything, at that moment, was right with the world.

 


	3. Chapter 3

_February 22, 20--_

_Mr. Holmes:_

_We're in.  Assistant to tour manager. Will keep in contact via the usual channels._

_Sincerely,_

_Mr. Watson_

::::

Opening night on any tour is both exciting and terrifying. You might have rehearsed, prepared and done everything humanly possible to get ready but there's still the fickle hand of Fate that might just be in the mood to throw a monkey wrench in your plans. I was as much an agnostic as anyone else but I was asking Whoever or Whatever watched out for madmen, children and rock stars to keep a close eye on us tonight. We'd decided to open at the Veldrome, and do shows around Germany before going anywhere else. That way we could do a sort of 'spoke and hub' tour; headquartering in Berlin and either taking a quick hop via plane or driving out to the city we were to play in. We'd left doing a gig in Berlin till either mid-tour or at the end of the tour in earlier years but this idea that someone at our management company had come up with was a pretty good one. Less stress on everyone involved.

We'd had a pre-gig meeting the day before to meet the new crewfolk and catch up with the people who'd been with the tour since the States. We had a couple new people in Wardrobe, our tour manager for this leg was a fellow we'd worked with before, a stoic, dry-humored fellow named Art, and his assistant could have been a carbon copy of Paul, from height down to haircut. He introduced himself as Dmitri and quickly went back to working on the laptop he had propped on his knees. There were a few other folks, mostly pyrotech and lights, and once they were introduced, Art stood up and gestured to Lilly, who was standing quietly in the shadows, watching everyone with a gaze that wouldn’t have been  out of place on a hunting falcon. She was cataloging everyone, everything, using the merest touch of her talent to get an idea of everyone's personalities to scope out who might be troublesome, who might need an eye kept on them.

“This is our tour doctor, Lilly Bailey,” Art said, grinning over at her as she came out of the shadows. “You are to tell her if you have anything, from a splinter down to and including a broken bone. I understand she kept everyone on the Stateside tour healthy and happy, so...yeah.” Lilly returned his smile and said, “Glad to meet everyone. I'll have a red t-shirt on during the shows so you can find me if you need.” With that, she stepped back into the shadows, her luminescent blue eyes the only thing you could really make out in the darkness. I had no clue how she did it and damn, I wanted to figure it out!

Meeting over and done with, I sat on a table and watched everyone head out of the room, one eye on Dmitri and one on the rest of the band. There was something about him that bugged me but I couldn't put my finger on it no matter how hard I tried. I caught Lilly's eye and said privately, **_::Does Dmitri give you the willies or is it me?::_**

Without stopping her conversation with one of the pyrotechnicians, she said, **_::He's as closed as any normal person can get. I can't get a hint of what he's thinking and that's odd, Till::_**

I reached out myself and discovered that Lilly was right; Dmitri was a brick wall, mentally. I shook my head and replied, **_::You're right. I say we don't ask for trouble but we keep an eye on him::_**

 ** _::I'll tell everyone else later::_** Lilly said, rubbing her forehead as she turned to me. **_::I hope we don't have a repeat of the craziness we had to deal with last year. One donnybrook between you boys per tour is my limit.::_**

Now I was standing next to Ollie, who was gazing meditatively off into space, the only sign of nervousness coming from him quietly tapping the toe of his boot against the floor. Schneider was pacing back and forth, gnawing on his lower lip, while Flake was watching him with a bemused expression over the top of his sunglasses. Paul and Richard were leaning against the wall I was leaning on, nattering away a mile a minute like they always did before a show, and Lilly was at the top of the hallway, talking to Art and Dmitri. We’d already had our pre-show shot of tequila and the alcohol was singing through my veins. I was sure Schneider was going to implode when Art turned around and said, “Time to go, folks. Go out and be awesome.” Ollie smacked Schneider on the shoulder to get his attention and pointed towards the door, holding me back as our drummer sprinted away from us and up the back stairs of the set. I rolled my eyes and snorted, saying, “Better stay out of his way tonight folks or you’ll get run over.”

 ** _::COME ON!!::_** Schneider yelled, enthusiasm like fireball whiskey through our bond. **_::I don’t have all day to sit here and look gorgeous!!::_**

Paul groaned and pushed Richard ahead of him up the stairs. “You’ve created a monster, Reesh.”

“Me?? What did I do?” he replied, throwing a grin over his shoulder. “He’s still not the resident diva in this band, though!”

This leg of the tour, we’d decided to revise the stage set somewhat. This set was a mishmash of the stages from the “Reise Reise” tour and the “Made In Germany” stage, only without the catwalk and second stage. We’d added a few effects, dropped a couple songs from the list to add “Rein Raus” and for a few special shows that we were keeping secret, also adding “Herate Mich.” Whether or not I’d do the whole “crawl across the floor and beg Richard and Paul to marry me” thing was still up in the air but I was absolutely 100% in favor of it. Just with knee pads, though, my knees might have been healed of all their old injuries but still, I wasn’t going to risk it.

The sound effects and lighting mimicked a violent thunderstorm that grew increasingly stronger and stronger, while Flake added a few touches here and there to start us into “Rammelied.” I closed my eyes, reached out just enough to sense everyone in the band, then a bit more to judge the audience, then stepped into the dark doorway just below Schneider’s kit. One long, deep, collective breath between us, six shared heartbeats and…

_…Wer wartet mit Besonnenheit_   
_der wird belohnt zur rechten Zeit_   
_Nun, das Warten hat ein Ende_   
_Leiht euer Ohr einer Legende…_

 


	4. Chapter 4

The post-show party was literally making the walls of the pub we’d taken over shake. Whoever was manning the deck in the DJ’s booth had shoved all of the levels on the mixing board to eleven, which turned every song into a blur of noise that was only a few decibels louder than the crowd gathered to celebrate opening night.  There was a gang of reporters and paparazzi circulating through the room, a few clumps of fans brave enough or lucky enough to get in, friends galore and a few hardy souls who’d been caught in the rush and had stayed to party with us. I’d found a corner table that I could sit at and watch the entire room at once, and I was watching Richard talking excitedly with a friend of his, their hands flailing around as they spoke. Paul was holding court nearby with some of his friends he’d known since childhood, while Till, Flake and Ollie were tucked away not far from where I was, only a few  fans nearby and they were being extremely respectful of their space. Sighing happily, I took a long drink of my soda and relaxed, glad that the first show of the tour was over and done. The crowd had been at capacity with I didn’t know how many fans turned away, the show had been filmed for later use and maybe a couple of videos, and nothing significant had gone wrong. Save for a giggle fit that caused Schneider to almost miss his short drum solo in the middle of “Weisses Fleisch,” the show had gone swimmingly well.

 “What are you doing here all by yourself, sweetheart?”

 “Well, speak of the devil and look who shows up. You guys did so well tonight!” I said, moving around the table so Schneider could take my place in the corner chair while I took the empty one at his right. “What in the world was giving you the giggles so bad during “Weisses Fleisch”? I thought you and Flake were going to start crying, you were laughing so hard!”

 “I take it you’ve seen “Doctor Who, right?” Schneider asked, eyes twinkling. When I nodded yes, he said, “Some fan of ours held a picture up of Flake in the middle of his dance and the caption under it said, ‘Flake: Perfecting The Doctor’s Drunken Giraffe Dance since 1992.’ We’d been watching that very episode with Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor on our last tour when we saw that picture the first time, and that bastard _had_ to remind me of that right in the middle of the bloody song.”

 I started giggling myself, remembering how much I’d goggled at Flake the first time I saw him dance onstage. He was actually very graceful when he wasn’t trying to contort himself into weird shapes, and knowing this made me laugh harder. That he was willing to make himself look like an absolute, utter numpty in front of thousands of people endeared him to me in a way I’d never let on because he’d be embarrassed by the compliment. “I’ve had people around me at shows think he’s having some kind of epileptic fit,” I said, signaling the waitress who’d been keeping my glass full over to the table. Thankfully, someone had gone up into the DJ booth and turned the music down considerably so you didn’t have to yell to be heard. Schneider pointed to my glass, saying, “Whatever she’s having.” The waitress smiled at us and whisked away into the crowd, nimbly dodging dancers and people wandering all over the place.

 We were chatting about the show when all of a sudden, Ollie came dashing through the crowd with Paul and Flake crowding along behind him. Schneider looked up, blinking, and said, “What the…Ollie? You look like you’re going to kill someone.”

 Sure enough, Ollie’s usually gentle, serene face was flushed, hazel eyes deepening to a vivid forest green with copper flecks glinting through. He flung himself down in a chair next to me and hissed, “Don’t look now Schneider, but guess who bothered to show their face tonight.”

 Paul was vibrating with anger and Flake’s eyes were the coldest ice blue I’d ever seen. They sat down as well, with Paul stealing my soda and Schneider carefully pushing his soda over to Ollie, who swallowed the entire glass whole. Flake looked at me and said, “One of Till’s old girlfriends is here. To make a long and messy story short, she hit on every one of us, half of our road crew and Paul’s son a few years back. I have no idea what Till sees in her. She and Nele hate each other with the fire of a thousand suns, and you can’t let Arielle within a mile of her, she’s threatened to go at her throat with her fingernails and teeth.”

 Paul was gnawing his way through an ice cube but stopped long enough to mutter, “Oh, and do tell Lilly how well she and Richard get along.” My ears perked up and my own temper began to rise, if slowly.  I raised my eyebrows; Flake rubbed his nose and continued. “It was _literally_ hate at first sight. I was taking bets at one point when Reesh would lose his shit and smack that cow into orbit but thank God he never did.  He and Till got into a couple of very heated arguments over her and if you think that little spat back in the US was bad, it was nothing compared to this. Good thing it never came to being physical because I’m convinced Reesh would have killed Till. I’m not kidding, Lilly, it was _that_ bad.”

 Schneider, who was resting his head on the back of his chair growled, “And she’d better not come within a mile of me either. Of all the girlfriends, wives, whatever, that we’ve gone through I’ve never disliked someone so much. She’s got this attitude that just grates on your nerves, for one. And there's something about her that makes me think of a rabid weasel. If Till gets back with her, I’m going to kill him.”

 “Who in the nine circles of hell invited that tramp?” came Richard’s low-voiced but very, very angry comment from behind me. “She’d better not drag her tarted-up carcass over here, I’ve still got some things to say to her.” I turned in my seat and saw Richard stomping his way up to the table, lower lip clamped in his teeth and the slightest sign of his tiny fangs peeking through. His face was flushed, eyes snapping and sparkling, and the way he moved made me think of an angry panther charging another one out of its territory. Needless to say, this sight sent a charge of animal lust through me; Schneider’s indrawn breath told me he felt it as well.   Ollie had calmed considerably but he was still on edge and angry. “I wouldn’t have known she was here if she hadn’t come up behind me and said hello. She was making a bee-line for Till, so I grabbed Paul and Flake and ran like my ass was on fire away from her before one of them said something. The last thing we need tonight is one of us going off at Till’s ex-girlfriend,”he said.

 I didn’t trust any of the boys to try and talk to Till rationally, so I caught his attention and said, **_::Who’s the blonde standing next to you? I thought you were over and done with blondes for the time being.::_**

  ** _::An old girlfriend. Don’t tell me you’re getting your ears bent by the others about her::_** Till replied, listening to the woman chatter away at him. **_::Her name’s Katarine Silverton. She’s one of those people you meet when you wander into the writing industry. We’ve a past, yeah, but I’m a grown up and I can handle her. She’s probably just here on something job-related anyway::_**

I wanted to bang my head on the table so hard it wasn’t funny.  Till couldn’t (or wouldn't) see the nasty, mean and predatory side of the gorgeous woman sitting next to him. She could have been a model with her butter-golden hair, tanned skin and wide grey eyes, not to mention her lush curves and full, dark pink lips.  Under all that pretty, however, was a woman who would have happily stuck a knife in someone’s back if it would get her what she wanted. Like “normal” humans, her mind was as open as a book. The mere touch I’d had of it made me physically flinch and feel like I needed to run to the women’s bathroom and scrub myself all over with bleach, hot water and maybe sand to get the rest off. 

 The other thing that bothered me so much was with Till being such a powerful empath, how he couldn’t sense any of this drove me nuts and angered me. I wasn’t romantically interested in him, but Till was as much a brother to me as anyone in the band, save my sweethearts. And like an overprotective sister, I wasn’t going to let this piece of baggage hurt him again, no matter what he said. I dug my fingers into the tabletop, ignoring Richard’s hiss of fear when my nails dug splinters from the hard wood. I’d forgotten in the hurry to get the tour started that I needed to file my nails down and coat the free edges with the rubberized protectant that kept our nails from becoming weapons. He shot me a somewhat-nervy glance and said **_::For the love of little green hamsters, please keep those things away from my happy bits until you file ‘em down.::_**

  ** _::Ditto::_** Schneider added, turning his hip so he could cross his legs more easily and protect his crotch. I glared at both of them and snapped, **_::I’ll do it tonight as soon as we get home. They’re not that sharp.::_**

  ** _::Tell that to the table top::_** Ollie said dryly.

 :::

 We had two days off between the first show of the tour and the second one. Which was good, considering how pissed off everyone had been at the end of the party. Richard closeted himself in his studio, telling me and the kittens that it wasn’t our fault, he was just so angry he couldn’t see and didn’t want to accidentally take it out on us. Fiona was nonchalant about it, but Marley wasn’t. She sat in front of the door to the office, howling as loud as her tiny lungs would let her. When she went hoarse and couldn’t make a peep, she slunk off to the laundry room where her and Fiona’s little-used bed was at and refused to come out.

  ** _::You’d think Reesh was angry at her::_** I said to Fiona that night. Richard was sleeping in the office, so I’d taken over the sofa in the living room rather than sleep in our bed, all alone. Fiona was stretched along my side, half-asleep and purring softly. She’d tried multiple times to get Marley to come out of the laundry room, but she’d been angrily batted away. With a meditative lick to one paw, she said **::She doesn’t understand why Papa doesn’t want to be around us when he’s this angry. I figure as soon as his temper’s burned itself out, all will be normal again but I can’t get her to accept it::**

 “Well, I can sympathize. I was so socially awkward around people when I was younger it was sad. I’m sure if I hadn’t learned how not to be, I’d be as upset as Marley is right now. Good thing neither of you got to see any of it.”

  **::I can imagine. Human men can be stupid.:**

 “Truer words have never been said,” I agreed, burrowing into the covers and feeling more than a little bit sad and lonely. If Richard was still in a snit come morning, I was going to pick the lock to the office door and drag him out of the room, kicking and screaming.

 The next morning found me sitting in the kitchen, staring off into nothing, a mug of tea steaming away between my hands, totally forgotten. Marley had come out of the laundry room long enough to gobble down her portion of breakfast and had returned to the cat bed, still silent and depressed. Fiona was with her now, curled around her sister, trying to offer some kind of comfort even if it was rebuffed. If the bed would have been bigger, I’d have joined them. Ever since we’d met, despite our disagreements and arguments that got a bit loud, Richard had never pushed me away like this. Our bond was still solid and vibrant, but it was as if there was a thin piece of glass between us. Getting used to having someone so much a part of me had taken so long and been so painful; I didn’t ever want to be so utterly alone ever again. Depression was gnawing away at my insides when my phone buzzed quietly. I looked down to see Schneider’s number pop up on the display and I almost sent the phone flying when I scrambled to get it.

 “Hey, Lilly,” he said. “I take it His Royal Asshole-ness has locked himself away in his ivory tower and won’t speak to anyone?”

 “Got it in one,” I said, mentally shaking myself into awareness. “Has he always been like this?”

 “Oh yeah. One of the many things that broke him and his first wife up, in fact,” Schneider replied. “The only good thing that’s ever come out of it is some damn good music and lyrics. Well, that and no one ended up with a broken nose or in the hospital. Listen, it’s a nice day and I’m not going to sit in the house and do nothing. If Miss Priss won’t come out of his office and be a human being today, why don’t you and I get lunch somewhere, go see a movie or whatever?”

 I jumped out of my seat and shoved my mug of tea into the fridge. “How fast can you get here?” I said, struggling out of the flannel shirt I was wearing. Schneider’s laugh was like warm sunlight on winter-cold skin; he said, “Give me about a half hour. If Richard grows up and acts like he should, he can come along. Otherwise, leave him a note and let the kittens beat him up when he does come out of his office.”

 “You’re not only a very smart man, you’re also a darling one too,” I replied. We rang off and I hurried through a quick shower, dashed off a brief note to Richard and got dressed, leaving about 10 minutes before Schneider was to arrive. I was slipping my heavy winter jacket on when I knocked on his office door and said, “Reesh? Are you…are you okay?”

 “I’m fine,” came his muffled reply. “What’s up?”

 “Uh…well, Schneider called and asked if we wanted to go meet for lunch somewhere,” I said, nervously shifting from foot to foot. That Richard couldn’t feel my nervousness told me he was still angry and not wanting to be bothered. “You feel up to it?”

 “Nah. You guys go have fun. I’ll make sure the kids will be all right. Don’t worry lovey, I just…I’m not in the best frame of mind right now to be around people. I love you, though.”

 “I love you too,” I replied, shoving the note into my pocket. “Call if you change your mind or you need anything.”

 “I will, sweetheart. Give Christoph my love too, okay?”

Sighing, I made my way out the door, closing it softly behind me. I rode the elevator down in a shroud of silence, happy that none of the neighbors was about to see me. Bright sunlight half-blinded me as I left the apartment building; I had one hand up to my eyes while I fumbled in one of my pockets for my sunglasses when I ran full tilt into a laughing, sweet-smelling Schneider. He caught me and kept me from falling, saying “Whoa! You were two seconds from walking right into the middle of the street!”

 “After the past couple of days, I’m _this_ close to shoving our errant, stuck up little shit of a guitar player right in front of a bus,” I replied, finally getting my sunglasses set on my face properly. Once I could focus, I said, “Let’s go, Christoph, before I _do_ shove him in front of a bus. Little prick, he’s got Marley so wound up she’s a mess. You’d think he’d grow up just a little bit for her.”

 Taking my arm, Schneider walked me up the street to where he’d parked his midnight blue Mercedes. I wasn’t too good with makes and models of cars, much less anything more than how they worked and how to drive, but I could appreciate the sleek beauty of the car he handed me into. The interior was done in shades of sand, the leather seats so soft and comfortable I could have fallen asleep in them with no trouble at all. I peeked at the speedometer and raised my eyebrows at how high it went; Schneider saw my face and said, “Yes, I’ve had her up to about…oh, 10 k below the red line. I have a friend that works at the Volkswagen test track; he sneaked me in with her one afternoon and let me go nuts. I even got to drive the same Bugatti Veyron the guys from “Top Gear” drove there. It was a blast.”

  _That_ car I knew about, having caught episodes of the show during my long nights in the hospital and at the lab. It was a gem of a car, to say the least, and all I could think of saying was, “Please tell me you didn’t try to red line a Veyron.”

 As he peeked over his shoulder to watch when traffic was clear, Schneider said, “Nah. Chickened out at 399 K. Scared the living shit out of my buddy, though.”

 I could only shake my head. “You. Are. Fucking. Insane.”

 “Of course I am, my dear. I’m a drummer. I hit things with sticks for a living. All of my good sense got rattled out of my head _years_ ago.”

 :::

Lunch was a blast. The little Italian restaurant Schneider took me to was a stone’s throw from the edge of the _Tiergarten_ which I’d only seen at night until now. Even with its foliage and flowers buried under several inches of snow, it was still a lovely sight, especially with the early afternoon sun setting everything to glittering and shining. We chatted, laughed and shared stories over lasagna, freshly-made garlic bread and bitter chocolate biscotti, and before long my bad mood had evaporated, not even returning when Schneider said, “Let’s hope Reesh gets over his temper before the next show. If not, I don’t know what I’ll do. He's being a moody asshole and he knows it.”

 “He sounded a little happier this morning when I left,” I replied, taking a sip from the glass of red wine I’d been toying with. “It’s like there’s this glass barrier between us. I don’t know what he’s protecting me from.”

 Schneider made an annoyed face and took a bite from his cookie before answering. “Yeah, I feel it too. I talked to Paul last night and he’s half sick over it. I don’t know completely what makes him so mad at that woman but whatever it is, he won’t forgive her till she’s dead and buried.”

I rolled my eyes at the thought and said, “He’ll either get over it or I’ll wallop him upside the head until he does. And enough of that, we’ll ruin this pretty day worrying about it.”

 There wasn’t anything interesting at the local cinemas, so Schneider and I wandered through the _Tiergarten_ for a while, him showing me the sights that only a local person would know. We stopped here and there for me to photograph some things---a flock of geese, the way a clump of snow circled a winter-killed rose, and a couple of pictures I sneaked of Schneider when he wasn’t looking. One really stood out over the others; he was leaning against a tree, gazing out over a tiny pond that had one lone goose swimming in it, the sunlight bringing out the red and gold shades in his dark hair and a smile crinkling the edges of his eyes. I wanted to send it to Richard with the message, “See what you’re missing?” but I decided not to.

 At long last we circled back to the car park where Schneider had left his car (“Her name’s Lucy,” he’d told me proudly). As we were belting ourselves in, he gazed over at me and said, “Want to see my house?”

 I couldn’t help feeling the rising tide between us and I know he couldn’t either. Blue-green eyes with a touch of silver grey and feral ocean blue darkened as we stared at each other, unsure and unable to speak. With one shaking hand, I reached over and touched Schneider’s cheek, watching a scarlet blush color his cheeks. “It’s not cheating,” I said.

 “I know. It’s just…I’ve never been in a relationship like this. Ever. Especially with all the shit that comes along from what we are now,” he replied, staring down at the floor. “You were with Reesh first. What he and I did, that was just stupid shit. It doesn’t count.”

 “But you still love him, right?” I asked, entwining my gloved fingers with his. “You never stopped loving him. And it’s not stupid. If this…if you and I sleeping together before you two get beyond second base bothers you so much, then run me back to the apartment and we’ll call it a day.”

 “We talked about it at Till’s house the night before the tour started,” Schneider said very softly. “I asked Reesh if this exact thing happened how he’d feel. His comment? “ ’Disappointed, only because I won’t get to be there to watch and participate.’ ”

 Biting back a smile, I took a quick look about to make sure we were alone, leaned over and kissed Schneider, a butterfly-light kiss that happened faster than he could register. When I pulled away, he was shaking, pupils so wide they were trying to cover the iris and pale as milk skin. In a voice made hoarse by a dry throat and desire, he said, “I want to make you scream.”

 “Then what are we waiting for?” I said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a compilation of Matt Smith’s dancing...erm…skills… https://youtu.be/17clEC4suQk
> 
> My dream car: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Veyron
> 
> Schneider’s car [‘Lucy’]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_SLK-Class


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here be sexytimes at last.

Schneider’s house was on the outskirts of the city in an area that hadn't yet been built up into suburbs. He said when he'd bought the house, a rule for that part of town had been passed that no more houses were to be built and the area maintained to keep it as rural as possible. The countryside was gorgeous even covered in snow, and the few houses I saw were small, cozy looking and looked as if they'd been there forever. A couple houses had small horse barns and paddocks nearby, and one was almost surrounded by a pond. 

“I had to do a lot of fancy footwork to keep this place from my ex,” he explained, slowing down a touch to let a herd of deer sprint across the road and into a field. “I'd bought it before I met her and there was no way in hell I was gonna let her have it.”

 “I'd forgotten you were married a while ago,” I said. “She was Russian, wasn't she?”

 “Yeah. Pretty girl, smart as they come but in the end we were just not meant to be together. It's been a long time but it still stings that I was dumb enough to think just sex and the occasional fight were enough to keep us together,” Schneider replied with a deep sigh. “I wonder if all that time I was just waiting for someone better to come along.”

 “I don't know,” I replied, shifting in my seat so I could get a better look at him. He was still pale as the snow outside, the faintest tint of a blush on his cheekbones, but at least he didn't look like he was going in front of a firing squad any longer. “I gave up looking for someone to have a relationship in college. Besides Richard, I've only had two other boyfriends. Sad, isn't it?”

 “Nope. Why force yourself to be in a relationship if the person you're with doesn't make you happy?” Schneider said, taking one hand off the wheel to give my hand a squeeze. I grinned at him, and said, “Is that your house around the corner?” He returned my smile with a shy smile and wink, downshifting to make the final turn.  We pulled into a graveled driveway that was lined with fir trees, leading to a wide, curving driveway that went around the back of a lovely one story house. It was built out of what I thought was local stone, its shades of dun, brown and grey fitting in well with the nearby forest that it butted up against. A garage in the same stone hid at the back, covered with an ivy vine that was still a vivid green even in the cold. The house did not look like something you'd expect a heavy metal drummer to have, and when I said so, Schneider snort-laughed and said, “And that's why I bought it in the first place. That, and I can turn the amps up as loud as I want if I'm practicing without worrying that I'm going to crack the neighbor's good china. I used to have most of the yard fenced in when I had dogs but when my last one died, I had it torn out.”

 The inside of the house was as non-rock star like as the outside. All but one of the walls in the living room were covered in bookshelves, and only because that wall had a huge picture window in it, framed with heavy golden-brown curtains. Furniture made of dark and light wood invited you to sit down and relax, while the light oak, hardwood floor had a few wildly-colored rag rugs on it here and there. The kitchen was like as the one in Paul and Arielle's house, and looked like it was the most-used room in the house. “Most of the time when I have people over, we end up in here anyway. I turned the dining room into a studio, made the master bedroom bigger and what was a spare room is where I keep all the awards and stuff we've won over the years.” Schneider said as he walked me through the house.

 “This place is gorgeous,” I said, stopping to admire a huge, framed photograph of the band from one of their past tours that hung just outside the room. It was a collage of different photographs of the band onstage, off stage, on the tour bus and a couple that were studio portraits. It was at least five feet wide by six feet tall and it was impressive. I gazed at it, marveling at whoever had done the photographs; Schneider pointed to several and said, “Those are Paul's, and that big one in the middle of all of us, that's Ollie's pride and joy. Flake and Till pulled the rest of the pictures together and had this done up for my birthday a couple years ago. I'd put it in the living room but the frame is so bloody heavy it needed to be hung on a wall with two studs near each other.”

 For a second my heart contracted as I studied the pictures, trying not to remember the horror that brought us together. I closed my eyes, breath catching in my throat. Schneider put an arm around me, saying, “What's wrong Lilly? You okay?”

 “Bad memories,” I said, sniffling back a few tears. “If...if...I wish we'd all met under different circumstances.”

 “I do too but I'm not going to argue that knowing you hasn't been an adventure,” Schneider teased. “I'll admit, my life was getting a bit too quiet and I needed a bit of a shaking up.” The dry tone of his voice made me break into a short fit of near-hysterical laughter; I leaned into his side and said, “If that's your definition of 'a bit of shaking up' I don't want to know what you call too quiet.”

 Schneider laughed as well, pulling me into a loose hug that suddenly became a heated, wild grope. I had no clue when we went from simply hugging to clinging to one another, fighting to tear clothes away from quickly-overheating skin. Schneider half-dragged, half-carried me into his bedroom, dumping me on the bed and jerking his heavy sweater over his head as I struggled to get my own shirt off. He smacked my hands away, making me hiss, and made short work of getting it off as well as my bra. Hair coming out of its tail in long strands, I glared up at him and purred, “We gonna fuck or fight, _Chrissy?_ ”

 “You _bitch_ ,” he snapped, pinning me to the bed by sitting on my hips and grabbing both of my wrists in one hand. There was a strange, savage emotion in those blue-green eyes of his I'd never seen there before, something that was as dark and hungry as a nightmare. It was almost exactly as what I had seen in the past in Richard's eyes, but this didn't have the constraint he had with me. This was primal, hungry and needy as anything, and for the first time since I'd gotten to know him, I was scared of Christoph. Yeah, I could  defend myself quite well if I had to but there was a good chance I'd hurt him badly in the process. I shook my hair from my face as best I could and whispered, “If we're gonna play that way, I want a safe word first. Otherwise, this ends now.”

 Christoph gazed down at me, chest heaving as he forced himself to breathe and remember where he was. “Evergreen?” he said, biting his lower lip, sweat beading on his forehead. “Will that work?”

 “It will,” I replied, writhing under him and arching my back, making him whimper softly. When we kissed this time, it was slow, sweet and lovely. We stripped the rest of our clothes off, hands wandering all over to learn each others curves, tasting the salt-sweet of our skin, kissing and giggling softly. Christoph was so very different than Richard, than any of the other two men I'd been with, and I was determined to take my time and catalog every single inch of him. I had him on his back, leaning over to lick my way down his chest to his belly button, hearing Christoph’s soft gasps as I let a few strands of hair snake over his cock.

 “Oh shit, Lilly, don't...” he sighed, one hand wound in the blankets and the other clinging to my wrist. “Do something but don't tease me.”

“You wanted to play mean, we're playing mean,” I replied, nipping at his right side and hearing him yelp. Circling his cock with my fingers, being careful to keep my claws off of his delicate flesh, I gave it one rough pump which made him scream and arch up into my hand. That was enough to shove him over the edge, and the next thing I knew I was up on my knees, my hair wound into one of his strong hands to pull my head back and bare my throat. Christoph hilted himself in one hard shove as he sunk his teeth into my shoulder, and began thrusting into me as hard as he could. I could barely stay up on my hands and knees; one violent shove put me on my elbows as his teeth left my shoulder. We were screaming, moaning, crying out each others names, lost in the rut that claimed us.

 “Scream for me, Lilly. Scream my name, you redheaded _bitch!_ ” Schneider’s voice was hoarse and ragged, breath landing scalding hot on the back of my neck. He left aching bruises on the back of my neck, licking them to soothe the pain away even as he left another love bite. I was gasping, knowing I was so close to the edge that one more thrust and I'd be gone. Rolling my shoulders down and raising my hips, I braced myself and cried out, “Christoph, please, _ich komme_ , now, please, I have to...”

 We went over the edge, me leading and Christoph behind me, sweat and tears soaking my spine and hair. Exhausted, I slumped to the bed, trembling all over, not knowing when he slid free and wrapped us in a blanket. We stayed bundled together for a time, our only communication our bond and our hands on each other. I would have fallen asleep had Christoph not shuddered all over and said, “My feet are sticking out of the blanket and getting cold. Let's go shower and get warm.”

 Christoph's shower was literally big enough for four people, with shower nozzles all around and a huge  waterfall shower head above. I stood in the doorway, dazzled by the whole affair, and hear his amused laugh. “Reesh stayed in there an hour the first time he came over.  I've never seen anyone so in love with a bloody shower.”

 “Does it make coffee too?” I teased, stepping inside the stall and sitting down on one of the fragrant cedar wood benches. Brass racks held shampoo, conditioner, body wash, just about anything one could want to take a bath with. Christoph dropped a pair of towels into a warmer before stepping in and turning the shower on, picking which nozzles he wanted on, and setting the waterfall shower head to flow slowly. He sat down next to me; seeing the bites, bruises and cuts on me, he pulled away and exclaimed, “Shit, woman, I didn't know I hurt you that bad! Why didn't you say something?”

 “Have you looked at yourself?” I asked, pointing to a long line of red bites I'd left down his right thigh. Christoph's eyes widened and he twisted about to see a collection of bruises on the curve of one hip, accompanied by a slash mark right over the small of his back. “We look like we were thrown down a hillside into a brier bush, then got attacked by a wolverine!” he said in shock.

 “You wanted to play rough,” I said, smoothing my hair from my face and over one shoulder.  “And you didn't say anything either.”

 “You gonna kiss some of this and make it better?” Christoph purred, urging me up into his lap as he shifted around enough to slide his already-erect cock back into me. He'd hid his sneaky idea from me; the burn and push stole my breath away and I dropped my head onto his shoulder, our water-slick bodies glistening in the low lights of the bathroom. This time our lovemaking was slow, sensual and left us both slumped down on the shower bench, half-asleep. I managed to keep enough brain cells functioning to get cleaned up and Christoph as well, then back to bed. The last thing I heard was his mindvoice saying to someone **_::If you can act like a human being, then get your ass over here. We've only tonight before the tour starts::_**

**:::**

His touch on my skin is rough, angular and nothing like a woman's. But it's a familiar, loved touch, one I've stored away in my sense-memory for years, thinking at the time I'd never feel it in this way again. But here he is, lying next to me in my bed, indigo and cobalt eyes with the merest hints of silver grey, forest green, ocean blue and ice blue-green shining with the bliss of post-coital happiness. A happiness that we'd shared so long ago, a happiness that I'd noticed with barely-suppressed jealousy every time he looked at Lilly.

 I hate to admit how jealous that he'd found a woman like her, albeit under some very awful and weird circumstances. Jealous that she was his lover, jealous that I didn't have someone like her for my own, jealous that I might never have that kind of luck. But thankfully she and I were friends first, long enough for that green-eyed monster to die a quick death and me to realize that the tiny little thread of a bond he and I had forged in our youth over a number of nights full of hormone-fueled, almost fucking, had never died out. It had driven me half insane in the end, and only being infected and becoming a Changeling had eased that madness. It had been very strange to realize that I still wanted Reesh as much as I had once, but that he wanted me as badly still. Even stranger was that Lilly, who I thought was untouchable, unobtainable, wanted me as well, and had no problem with sharing Reesh. 

 “What are you thinking so hard about Christoph?” Richard asked me, petting my hair and getting it out of my eyes. “Even if we weren't bonded, I could hear you.”

 “You. Me. Lilly. All of this,” I said, gesturing around the room with a lazy hand. “A year ago if anyone had told me I'd be in a threesome, be able to move stuff around without touching it, be a telepath, and be a rock star all at the same time, I'd have called the cops.”

 His laugh is warm and tea-scented against my chest. We've been lying here tangled up in bed for well over an hour; Lilly popped in long enough to deliver two mugs of well-sugared black tea to us before heading back to the living room to read and leave us in peace. Neither of us wanted her to go, but she'd kissed us, then said, “You two need to be alone a while longer. I'll be around, don't worry.”  I feel his fingers sliding over my hipbones, being careful of the line of bite marks that Lilly left on me earlier. “She marked you really well,” he murmurs, curling closer to me and settling under the blankets deeper. “I thought we'd be rough with each other but damn, she's a vicious little thing when she gets going.”

 “I don't mind,” I reply, closing my eyes and relishing the wonderful tiredness that sings along my nerves and bones. “Kinda glad you didn't want that the third time around, though. I barely had the energy left to do more than lie there and make the appropriate noises.”

 Richard says nothing to this; he kisses my neck and burrows into my side, obviously wanting to sleep. I don't blame him. While I'd rather not lose an hour or two of this stolen evening to sleep, I can't keep my eyes open any longer and I drift off, waking only enough to register that Lilly has joined us and is lying behind Richard, one arm thrown around his waist and her fingers wound in mine. I smile and drop back to sleep, dreaming of what had happened several hours before...

 ….A knock on the front door woke me up from a deep, deep sleep. I raised my head up, trying to figure out who in the world would be coming to visit this late in the afternoon; an affectionate brush against my mental barriers tells me Richard has arrived and is very, very contrite. Lilly is out like a light and doesn't show any signs of waking up soon, so I slide out of bed, pull my jeans and t-shirt on and hurry to let Richard in before he starts bitching about how cold it is outside.

 When I get to the door, it's all I can do not to drag him in by the front of his jacket and have my way with him on the living room floor. He's in his habitual head to toe black, raven-dark hair defying gravity as usual and sticking up all over the place, indigo-grey eyes peering up at me from the veil of black lashes. He's as winter-pale as I am, which is such a stark contrast against all the black he's wearing and as always,there's a thin stripe of black eyeliner under each eye. He's definitely earned the nickname Lilly gave him, “the peacock Prince.” (or “Princess” when she was annoyed with him). He's always been a pretty boy, the virus didn't seem to do much in changing him but I can see it. The tiny lines that were forming at the edges of his eyes are gone, as are other lines that we all get as we age, no matter what, and the darkness that lived in the back of his eyes is diminished a great deal, washed away by love and magic. I smile at him and say, “How many speed limits did you break getting over here, Kruspe?”

He strides into the living room with a snort, stopping long enough to shed his boots and jacket and hang them in the tiny mud room next to my gear and Lilly's jacket and boots. “Let's say there's a few police officers who won't remember why they pulled me over and leave it at that,” he says, producing a thumb drive from his jeans pocket and handing it to me. “Peace offering. It's the newest version of “Brutal Doom” and all its extra mods. I have a giant bag of cat treats for the kits and a box of Jammy Dodgers for Lilly.”

“Jammy Dodgers?” comes Lilly's happy voice from around the corner. She walks into the room dressed in my long-sleeved shirt and her socks, hands wrapped around a mug of tea. Her hair is loose and wild around her face, and despite our shower earlier, I can still smell my essence on her skin. Richard's nose flares slightly as the scent registers with him and for a second I can feel his primal need to drag her off and claim her as his race through his soul. Lilly raises her head and glares at him for a long moment, scolding him privately that if anyone should be claiming anyone else, it should be her snarling at me to stay away from him. I have to sit down on the sofa and laugh, for it's like seeing a kitten trying to take on a bobcat. At last Richard shakes his head, smiles, and hands her the box of goodies. “Don't think you'd want the kitten treats,” he says, accepting the kiss she gives him and sits down across from me on the other sofa. Lilly excuses herself with the goodies, saying she's not going to share them with either of us for love or money, leaving us to stare at one another awkwardly.

“So. Here we are,” Richard says, staring at the carpet as if it holds the secrets of the universe. I slide  off the couch, kneeling at his feet and reaching to tip his chin up so he'll face me. “You didn't just come here to make up for being a snotty, nasty bit of work the past couple of days,” I say, forcing him to look me in the eye. He blushes so prettily before managing to murmur, “No. I came because...I want you, Christoph. I saw the look in your eyes the other night at the party when I came stomping up to the table you and Lilly were sitting at. I wanted to drag you out of there right at that moment and take you home, make you come until you didn't have anything left, make you scream my name...I wanted us to finally be together like we always should have been. I don't want to wait any longer.”

And there it was, out in the open at last. I'd never thought much about having a relationship with another man but I'd never ruled it out. I'd found women eternally fascinating and confusing at the same time; I still did, but there was always something about Richard that drew me in and captured me heart, mind and soul. Without thinking, I stood up from the couch, grabbed his hand and towed him towards the bedroom, hearing Lilly's snort-laugh as we stumbled by. “Play nice, boys,” she said, saluting us with her mug of tea. “I'll keep my ears shut and my nose out of your business.”

“You sure you don't want to join in?” I ask, trembling all over as I feel Richard's hands begin to slide down over my behind and weave into the belt loops on my jeans. Lilly smiles like a goddess and says, “You and I have already have had our fun. Go play, all right?”

“You heard what the woman said,” Richard purrs, nibbling at the point of my shoulder and dragging me away. “Besides, we've got how many years of not fucking to make up for?”

“Shut up princess,” I reply, kicking the bedroom door shut with a 'bang' as I shove him onto the bed. Richard lands with a spluttering laugh, hands already busy in yanking his heavy, long-sleeved shirt off and fumbling with the buttons on his jeans. I smack his hands away and strip him myself, taking only a moment to shed my own clothes before sinking down onto the bed and latching my mouth onto his.

Two decades' worth of memories come crashing back the moment our lips and minds touch. The scent of stage makeup, hair dye, sweat and alcohol is vivid in our shared memories; I have to draw back several times and look down into Richard's dilated, dark eyes to make sure this is the here and now and not some drunken daydream. He smiles up at me, reaching up to run his fingers through my hair, saying, “I never did like you with that horrible brush-cut mess you had for so long. Or that Mohawk. What the hell were you thinking?”

“Me? It was you who suggested I cut it like that!” I laugh, laying a smacking kiss on his shoulder. “And then because my hair curls, the fucking thing wouldn't stand up! Oh, and while you're insulting my hair, what about your dreadlocks or that Rapunzel hair _you_ used to have?”

Richard is laughing so hard now I think he's going to cry but instead he wraps his arms around me and holds me tight. It feels so natural and right to be held this way; I maneuver us so he's lying on top of me, burying my fingers in his spiky hair to hold him still so I can kiss him properly. Laughter fades into a soft moan as I nip his lower lip, running my teeth gently over his chin, feeling the faintest scratch of stubble against my skin. He's hard and hot and oh so solid against my thigh and it takes everything I have not to start humping at his leg like a stupid dog. Richard raises his head up, blinking owlishly in the cool afternoon light that comes through the upper part of the bedroom window and purrs, “I don't suppose you have anything like lube around here, do you?”

“What, you didn't bring any?” I tease. “You brought me a thumb drive full of my favorite video game but no lube? You didn't expect to get very far with me if you showed up with presents but no lube.”

“Oh, for the love of...,” Richard half-grumps, pushing me off of him and rolling over to drag his jeans out of the pile of clothes we left at one side of the bed. He fumbles in a pocket and tosses a tiny tube of lubricant and a couple of condoms onto the bed. Wriggling back onto the bed, he uncaps the lube, warming it in his fingers, then reaches for me. I pull back, not quite knowing what's going on, but the moment his slick, warm fingers encircle my cock, I give in and surrender to his touch. I can't stop the soft, broken keen that breaks out of my throat the second his lips touch the slit, nor can I stop any of the nonsense noises I make as Richard licks a stripe up the underside of my cock, circling the crown with delicate licks that are barely this side of not tickling. His hands remember all of the bumps, ridges, hollows and delicate parts of me, and before long I'm crying out his name, spilling over his hands and momentarily losing my mind.

When I can remember where I am and who I am again, Richard is sitting up next to me, a beautiful smile on his face, eyes soft but full to the brim with lust. He doesn't have to ask me, I find the lube and coat my fingers with it as he settles down on his stomach, gaze never leaving my face as I trace the outline of his behind, drop a kiss on the small of his back, and then run my fingers down to brush the entrance to him. He moans into the pillow as I work one finger inside him, then another, his shriek of desire nearly deafening when I find the tiny bump inside that turns him into a begging, pleading mess.

Three fingers and he's wailing, voice starting to crack around the seams, and I can't take much more. With shaking hands I roll the condom on, cover it with the last of the lube, and urge Richard onto his knees. We're both sweating, shaking and so aroused it hurts; I lean over and whisper, “Breathe deep, okay? I won't hurt you on purpose, you know that, right?”

“Yes, oh yes Christoph, please fuck me,” Richard asks, one hand blindly pawing at me. “I need you so much, please, I'll do anything but please fuck me...”

It takes more time than I'd like for me to finally be inside him completely, but once I am I have to hold still and catch my breath. If I don't, I'll come and leave my lover high and dry, something I don't want even if it's going to be a dry orgasm this close to the first one.  Richard is shaking, tears sliding down his face, but he holds still, breathing deep and steady, waiting for me to move. Once I'm sure he's adjusted to me, I pull back, slow, slow, slow, and push back in, our shared minds shaken top to toe by the feeling. He's so tight inside, almost more than I can take, and I know neither of us will last long this first time.

He urges me on with his body and mind, going from needy to fierce and aggressive, snapping his head around to sink his teeth into my wrist when I put my arm around his chest to pull him upward so I can thrust into him even harder. I return that little trick by sinking my teeth into his throat, feeling my small but still sharp fangs pierce the skin and vein underneath. If I were in my right mind I might be weirded out by what I've done but the beast in me that becoming  a Changeling awoke purrs happily, for this is a sign (to it) that  Richard has been taken and claimed by me. His blood tastes like cinnamon, vanilla and sweet iron, rich and so wonderfully full of life and magic. He goes still under my teeth, even his hand on his cock is still as I take what I want, coming so hard I see stars for a moment. It's all I can do to knock his hand away from his cock, but I finish my love off, my teeth still in his neck as he spills over my hand and onto the bed.

The storm passes and leaves us breathless, sated, and ecstatic. We will eventually share our Lilly, cementing our oddball triad, but for now I'm content to hold my beloved close, listen to the thunder of his heartbeat and feeling at peace for the first time in a very, very long time.


	6. Chapter 6

Winter was slowly beginning to lose its grip on Germany by the time we finished the first bit of the tour. I was more than ready for a few days off, having had a couple of not-so-great shows in the middle of several great ones. Till had somehow managed to burn his left arm rather nastily at one gig, which required us to stop the show for twenty minutes while Lilly cleaned and bandaged him up. Till insisted on finishing the show, knowing how fast he'd heal,  but until then, he was in a horrible mood. He locked his emotions down as much as he could so none of us would feel his pain and anger but it leaked through enough to set us all on edge.

Our second run of bad luck came a week later when half of our sound system crapped out at the very beginning of the show. It took all of the sound technicians to finally bring the monitors, the mics on Schneider’s drum kit and some of the main speakers back up but we kept playing, somehow managing to make almost as much noise halfway miked up as we did normally. This time we were all pissed off by the end of the show; Dmitri and Art had one hell of a time talking to the crews and not pointing fingers. We were known to run a tight ship on the road and pointing fingers at who might have forgotten to check something off of the “to-do” list wasn't a good idea, especially when we had skilled, smart people doing their jobs.

I was poking around the refrigerator one morning, yawning sleepily despite having ten hours of solid sleep behind me. I'd put coffee on and was searching for something high calorie, full of sugar and bad for me for breakfast when my mobile rang. Digging it out of my pajama bottom pocket, I saw Flake's number. He was usually not up this early the day after a show; with a raised eyebrow I answered, “You're up early.”

“I haven’t been to bed yet. Did you know our tour manager's assistant was a null?” Flake said, not even saying hello. My sleep-fogged brain stopped in its tracks, trying to figure out what in the world he was talking about.

“A what?” I muttered, abandoning my search for breakfast and choosing to pour out a big cup of coffee instead. From the tone of his voice, Flake was in “research” mode and if you didn't want to get lectured for not listening to him the first time, you dropped whatever you were doing and paid attention.

“It's a term some people who believe in psychic powers use for a person who hasn't any. Or so the literature I've been reading says. I was walking by Dmitri the other night and we accidentally bumped into one another. I usually get bits of things if I touch someone but Dmitri? Not a peep. Not even a sign of someone heavily shielded either.”

My eyebrows were making their way up my forehead as I listened to what Flake had to say. “That's impossible. Even someone who has as many brains as a water bug supposedly has _some_ kind of talent.”

“Well, he doesn't. Not a scrap. I don't know if we should be wary of him or feel sorry for him.”

Arielle strolled into the kitchen, wrapped in a worn flannel robe, red hair tied away from her pretty face. I met her eyes and told her privately what Flake had just said, watching her expression go from drowsy to wide alert in a breath. Holding her hand out for the phone, she clicked the speaker on as she sat down across from me at the kitchen table. “You're sure you didn't sense anything, Flake?”

“Nope, nothing,” he said, voice tinny and strange as it came through the speaker. “I think we should be very, very careful around Dmitri. Who knows, he might be the jackass that caused us no end of grief last year.”

“I don't think so,” I said. “The few times I was able to feel anything that wasn't coming from us, the person had talent, just not much. And he was protected to a point but not enough to stop leaking through. We'd know his...call it his scent....by now.”

Flake made a few noises that said he was thinking and writing at the same time, then sighed deeply. “I've been up all night and I'm about gone. Could you or Ari call Lilly and tell her what I found out?”

 “I'll do it,” Ari said, hurrying out of the kitchen. I picked my phone back up, turned the speaker off and said, “Been getting a, erm, 'busy signal' coming from our three lovebirds?”

Red embarrassment and silver-pink amusement coasted down the link; Flake choked out, “I made the mistake of not knocking the other night before I went into Schneider’s dressing room. I'd really like to forget what I saw.”

“Was it educational?” I teased.

“Paul Landers, you have absolutely no shame, barely any manners and you're a bloody sneak on top of that!” Flake spluttered. “I'm going to shove the cats off the bed and sleep for the rest of the day.” With that he hung up, leaving me to curl up in my chair and howl with laughter.

**_::What's so funny love?::_** Ari said. **_::Or do I want to know?::_**

**_::Oh, Flake walked in on Richard and Schneider having a little private time the other night::_** I said, getting back up to raid the fridge. **_::Guess he saw a little more than he wanted to::_**

**_::And of course you had to tease him about it::_ **

**_::Of course I did! The man has seen debauchery that would make Caligula blush and he still acts like someone's maiden aunt!:_** **:** I said. **_::Have you talked to Lilly?::_**

**_::I left her a voice mail::_** Arielle said. **_::And from that 'blank' feeling I get, she's otherwise occupied too. At least the three of them are considerate enough to do that. As much as I'd love to spend the day in bed with you, naked and happy, I've got some things to catch up to before our little one gets home from school::_**

**_::She doesn't get home until the afternoon and it's still early::_** I purred, abandoning my breakfast search once more and padding into the bedroom. **_::I think I'd rather eat you for breakfast::_**

**_::PAUL!::_ **

**_::Yes, my lovely little morsel?::_ **

**_::Ah...never mind. Especially if you do that again and again and again...::_ **

:::

Schneider tipped his head to the side and said, “So you're saying Dmitri is a…null?”

Lilly, Richard and Schneider were sitting in my living room later that day, waiting for Flake, Ollie and Till to arrive. After she'd listened to Ari's voice mail, Lilly had called around, asking everyone to meet at my house for a meeting no one could overhear. Our daughter, Lily, was staying overnight with some friends from school, so we were set.

I looked up from my laptop screen where I'd been paging through some photos I'd taken earlier in the month and said, “According to Flake, he is. I've never been around him long enough to tell. I thought it was impossible.”

Richard, who was sprawled across Schneider's lap, raised an eyebrow and said, “We've proved anything is possible, Paul.” I nodded, then wiggled out of my seat to answer the door bell. Ollie meandered in, Flake and Till on his heels. Once we'd settled about the living room, Flake recounted what he'd told me earlier that morning.

“I _told_ you something was off about him, Lilly,” Till said, shoving his fringe out of his face, half bouncing with excitement. He explained, “Lilly and I both noticed it at the pre-tour meeting at the beginning of last month. I didn't get too concerned about it but I never thought much about it. He's been a decent sort to deal with, good sense of humor, pretty much unflappable.”

“Let's leave him be unless he does anything we need to deal with,” Ollie said, fingers braiding and unbraiding the fringe on the knitted throw he'd pulled off of the back of his chair and draped across his lap. “I'm not one for poking about where I shouldn't. And like Till said, he seems to be a good guy. Maybe we're jumping at shadows.”

We threw ideas back and forth for well over two hours but in the end we were as at a loss as we were before. We did agree that Ollie was right, we needed to let sleeping dogs lie and that we were being paranoid.

But being paranoid doesn't mean someone's not out to get you.

**:::**

Moscow is lovely in the early morning light. I was curled around Arielle, who was still deeply asleep, watching the sun come up over the minarets which were still graced with snow and ice. We'd arrived in town a day early so we could take Lilly around to see the sights and not have to hurry. We'd had to leave the kittens behind; thankfully Richard's downstairs neighbor had said she'd watch them for the four days we'd be gone. We'd all heard their sad little goodbyes and weren't happy about it either, but there was no way we were going to risk having our fuzzy friends confiscated. They weren't strong enough psychically to reach us, so they had to rely on Richard's neighbor's daily e-mails on how they were doing.

Lost in thought, I didn’t sense Ari beginning to wake. The soft brush of her lips on the back of my hand startled me and when I looked at her, she was watching me with a thoughtful expression on her face. “Morning,” she sighed, stretching and yawning. “Did I wake you up?”

“Nah, I’ve been awake about a half hour or so. I’m kind of excited about today, all of us escorting you and Lilly around the city and not have to hurry through anything,” I said, nuzzling her fragrant hair and pulling her closer to me in a hug. Ari made a soft noise, rolling over in my arms to press her nose against my chest. We cuddled in the warm dimness and I was considering a little early morning lovemaking when all of a sudden, Ari went stiff in my arms, a flare of anger sizzling down our bond. I jumped back, hoping she wouldn’t torch me the way Lilly was able to, and said, “What…what’s wrong?”

“That _bitch_ is here,” she snapped, throwing the blankets off of us and stomping into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. I dropped my head into my hands and groaned, knowing the shitstorm that was to follow once everyone else found out Katarine was here. Flopping back into the blankets, I considered who would have the coolest head over this news and decided that Lilly would be the bearer of bad news to Richard and Schneider and I would deal with Flake and Ollie. Tapping the bond politely, I said, **_::Lilly? You awake? Can I talk to you for a second?::_**

**_::What’s wrong with Ari?::_** she replied. **_::I felt her flare but nothing else. Are you two fighting?::_**

**_::No. She picked up that Katarine is here either from Till or from someone else::_** I said, rolling myself into a ball and muttering very unkind words about the woman all of us disliked. Before I could say anything else, a flare of white-hot rage, bitter regret and a fierce need to defend and protect someone tore through my head, setting off a headache of epic proportions. It definitely came from Richard, whose mental “signature” was as unforgettable as a two by four to the face. He was somewhere in the hotel, having it out with Katarine, and making no attempt to block himself from the rest of us. Lilly swore, snapped the connection with me which made my headache worse; Ari came dashing out of the bathroom, throwing her nightgown at me and pulling on clothes at warp speed.

“Arielle! Don’t you dare go down there and start something!” I grumped from under my pile of blankets. “You know what happened the last time you and she tangled!”

“I honestly don’t care, Paul!” Ari yelled back, jerking her boots on and grabbing her key card from the desk near the window. “I told that useless sack of skin if I ever saw her again I was gonna rip her a new one for trying to get into your pants and in Emil’s as well! Not to mention what she said and tried to do to Richard!”

“What?” I asked, peeking cautiously out of the blankets. “What in the world are you talking about?”

Ari sat down on the foot of the bed, the wind gone out of her sails in an instant. “Oh my god, Paul, I shouldn’t have said that. Richard doesn’t know…the only person who saw what Katarine tried to pull was Ollie.”

“Tell me.”

“I…it was at the beginning of the LIFAD tour. I was headed to the ladies’ room at one of the shows and I overheard Richard arguing with her around the corner. I stopped because I didn’t want to walk into the middle of their argument and Ollie was right behind me. We stood there and listened to her tell Richard that if he didn’t sleep with her that night, she was going to tell Till that he’d raped her and gotten her pregnant. And she was going to go to the press on top of that, and you know what that would have caused. I don’t know if he did what she wanted but the next time I saw him, he looked like he’d been run through a wringer backwards and she was smug as a cat with a canary and a bowl of milk.”

“Oh _fuck_ ,” was the only thing I could think of. I flopped back into the pillows, staring at the ceiling, mind a total blank. “And of course Till knows nothing about that. If he does find out, he’ll go sky high and probably at Richard instead of her. This is a disaster.”

“So now you see why I’m so mad? If Till’s got the hots for Katarine again, he won’t listen to a word Richard says,” Ari pleaded. “Lilly’s so psychically powerful, who knows what she’ll do if Richard’s threatened?”

It was my turn to swear as I got dressed, fumbling at boot laces as Ari’s frustration and harp-wire strung nerves bit at me. I nearly ran through the door trying to get out of the room to find Richard and Katarine before Lilly did, praying that we’d be in time and not have to witness a bloodbath. I knew Lilly’s heart well; anyone who threatened any of us would be dealt with extreme prejudice. I remembered how she’d fought for us in Doctor Williams’s hellhole prison and knew once she got started, there might not be any stopping her.

 


	7. Chapter 7

When I was a little kid, I accidentally got hold of a partially-stripped electrical cord on a lamp in my parents living room. To this day I can’t forget the numbness that spread from my fingers all the way down to my toes, nor can I forget that eerie “hum” that echoed in my head for days. I’d been somewhat nauseated for a couple hours and nothing seemed right the rest of the day.

That was the feeling I got when Lilly’s barely controlled, almost psychotic rage blasted us all wide awake that fateful morning in Moscow. I was dead to the world asleep when all my nerves were set on fire and a  mental scream of fury shook me awake. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on and where I was, but the second I knew what had happened, I was dragging my clothes on, hands shaking in an attempt to button and zip as quickly as I could. I didn’t bother with putting any shoes on, I crashed out of my hotel room at a flat run, hoping I’d be the first person to find Lilly. With her this angry, I was the only person psychically strong enough to knock her down and keep her down until she settled and realized what was going on. Not even Till could match her when she was this mindlessly angry.

**_::Will someone please tell me what the fuck just happened?_** **::** came Schneider’s drowsy voice. **_::It_** ** _’_** ** _s like the fucking charge of the Light Brigade out there!::_**

**_::Richard_** ** _’_** ** _s run into Katarine::_** Paul explained; I could hear his pounding footsteps not far behind me. **_::They must_** ** _’_** ** _ve gotten into a fight or something, and Lilly is on her way to rain damnation down on Katarine_** ** _’_** ** _s head::_**

Schneider didn’t reply; I could sense he was getting dressed as fast as he could, swearing the entire time. I thundered down the short flight of stairs to the third floor, not waiting for the elevator, and found Richard glaring at Till’s old girlfriend . They were standing in an (thankfully) empty hallway; he was fairly trembling from the effort not to punch her, much like the last time they’d been in the same place together, his face snow white and blue eyes almost black. After what Arielle and I had seen a couple years previous, he had every reason to be angry and probably scared out of his mind that now he could simply reach out mentally and obliterate the mind of the trouble-making woman that stood in front of him, arms crossed and smiling as nastily as she could.

**_::Richard. Stop.::_** I said, half-stumbling on the carpet as I plunged through the door. “Richard. Whatever you’re in the mind of doing, don’t.”

“Well, hello Oliver,” Katarine said, turning that poisonous smile on me. Involuntarily, I took a step back and tightened my shields down, a mere ‘whiff’ of her mind and soul making me want to retch. If anyone could be the human embodiment of a cesspool, Katarine certainly could be the one. She was beautiful and acted sweeter than sugar, but inside…how could Till not sense this I had no clue.

“Hello Katarine,” I replied, grabbing Richard’s arm as hard as I could to keep him from moving, knowing there would be bruises shaped like my fingerprints on his skin once this was over. “Richard, what in the world has you up wandering around so early? We weren’t supposed to meet up for breakfast till ten.” I was gritting my teeth till they squeaked in hopes Richard would hear the tone of my voice and stand down, but he wasn’t. Not even through the bond.

**_::Flake, Chris, Paul, you_** ** _’_** ** _d better get here soon and before Lilly shows up!::_** I yelled. **_::Richard isn_** ** _’_** ** _t listening to me and he_** ** _’_** ** _s almost at critical mass as far as his temper goes!::_**

**_::Where the hell is Till?:_** Arielle shouted. **_::How the hell can he not hear what_** ** _’_** ** _s going on?::_**

**_:I don_** ** _’_** ** _t know but if he invited her here, I_** ** _’_** ** _m going to peel him top to toe with a rusty potato peeler!::_** Flake snapped. **_::He_** ** _’_** ** _s so fucking great with thinking with the wrong head and at the worst times!::_**

Katarine seated herself in an armchair across from where I stood with Richard, that sickly sweet smile plastered on her face that I so wanted to slap off and to hell with the consequences. “Richard and I were just talking about your opening night show. I have to say every time you boys go out on the road, you surpass yourselves in putting on a great show! My bosses were so impressed by the article I did, they sent me here to cover this show and maybe a couple of others. It’s lovely to catch up with old friends, isn’t it, Richard?”

  ** _::You useless old whore!::_** Arielle hissed. She was a minute away from us but thundering down an opposite hall was Lilly, loaded for bear and willing to hurt whoever had Richard so upset. Richard stammered out, “We’re not friends, Katarine. And if anyone here is old, it’s you.”

 Katarine laughed, a silvery laugh that grated on my nerves. “Always the sassy little bitch, aren’t you? You would have made a lovely woman if you’d been born one. Oh wait, that’s Schneider who’d like to be a woman. You’re so butch you’d explode if you were any more masculine.”

 Richard flushed bright red and shifted his weight in my grip but didn't move. “You bloody bitch,” he snapped.  “Your boss didn't just send you here to cover the show. You're here sniffing around to see if Till has any interest in you. I'll be damned to hell if I'll let you hurt him again like you did.”

 “ _I_ didn't hurt Till, Richard,” Katarine sighed, making a show of inspecting her nails. “I wasn't the one who slept with his girlfriend behind his back. I never said a word. I still haven't said a word and I might be inclined to keep it that way...if you listen to me and do what I ask.”

 My heart stopped at that moment. I knew what Katarine wanted, and something told me that if she didn't get it, life for all of us would get very, very difficult. Hoping and praying I wasn't right, I said, “I'd watch what you say, Kat. I was there the last time you wanted to make a bargain like that with Richard. I heard every last word and I won't be shy about letting Till know what you did.”

 Katarine's didn't blink, her lovely face remained immobile but I could tell inside her head she was growling in anger. “Oh? And just what did I say, Oliver? “ she asked. “And before you answer, let me say one more thing. I know Richard has a nice, dirty little secret he's trying to keep. Something the rest of you silly boys know but don't want to get out. Something that if he doesn't do as I ask, will probably destroy your careers or at least lose a good portion of your fan base.”

  ** _::No. Oh fuck, no::_** Richard whimpered. I took a better grip on his arms, not only to keep him from attacking Katarine, but also to keep him on his feet. We'd discussed what letting the world find out about him, Schneider (and maybe Lilly) might do to our careers and had figured we'd keep mum as long as we could, then let the cat out of the bag in as casual a manner as possible. Now it looked like that choice was being taken away from us and I wasn't about to have that. I could give a flying rat's ass about my job, what mattered now were my friends and nothing else.

 “Well, what is it?” I hissed. “What's so big and bad that you think it would affect us or chase our fans off? It had better be good, Katarine.”

“Or what?” she laughed. “What are you going to do, Oliver? Yell at me? Heaven knows you don't have a mean bone in your body.”

  _“But I do.”_

 The cold, bitter psychic wind that went through me like a knife made me shudder. Richard turned to look past me and stammered, “Lil...Lilly? What...how...?”

 Lilly strolled past us like she was a queen walking through a crowd of peasants. Her chin was up, red hair flaring around her face with the faintest scent of ozone trailing along behind, and the way she moved made me ache all over in fear and no little lust. Her skin was dead white with two faint touches of red high on her cheeks, and the quick look I got of her eyes scared me to death. There was a tiny touch of blue around jet-black irises and you didn't have to be psychic to know she was angered beyond reason.  She stopped within inches of Katarine and said, “Don't introduce yourself, I know who you are. I know what you're after and I know what you did to Richard.”

 “Who are you?” Katarine asked, standing up and trying to stare Lilly down---and failing miserably. Any person who knew Lilly would have been running for cover; as it was, Katarine was trying to intimidate Lilly and losing the battle. “Are you one of Richard's little temporary fuck toys? You're much too pretty and you look too smart to be one, so you're probably Oliver's girlfriend. Richard wouldn't know the first thing about being with a woman who has more than one brain cell working.”

 “So that's why _you're_ not with him?” Lilly said, a dangerous purr to her voice. Richard backed into me, shoving us into the wall. We could both see the inevitable explosion coming and had no way to escape the explosion when it hit. “He learned to appreciate smarter women, so he kicked you to the curb? You poor thing, nursing a grudge for well over two years.” Katarine's face turned an ugly shade of maroon and she clenched her fingers deep into her palms.  “Two years, Katarine. Two years to build up a good grudge against Richard. That takes a lot of patience and talent. You certainly don't look like the type that could do that.”

 Katarine opened her mouth as the same time the rest of the band, sans Till, and Arielle came charging through the door Lilly had used. Paul instantly had his hands full keeping Ari from getting to Katarine, while Schneider and Flake stepped in between myself, Richard and Lilly. Flake shook his head and muttered, “You're not dead yet, that's a miracle. Katarine, count yourself a lucky woman.”

 “Why should I?”

 “Because that pretty woman standing in front of you could melt your brains if she wanted to,” Schneider hissed through his teeth. “And if you didn't mean something to Till, I'd fucking let her and laugh my ass off the entire time.”

 Katarine's face was a study in confusion and disbelief. She stared at all of us, mouth gaping, and managed to choke out, “Do be serious. _Melt_ a human's brain? Are you high, Schneider? That's science fiction.”

 Lilly shoved past Schneider and Flake and without touching her, with only a gesture of her fingers, knocked Katarine into the wall. Stretching her hand out, she laid the very tips of her fingers on the other woman's head and whispered, “Katarine dear, you poor, foolish, woman do you want to see Hell?”

Katarine didn't scream and bring the hotel security down on us. The frozen, dead silence in that hallway was awful, much worse than a person's screaming. Lilly held her in her thrall for only a minute, but when it was done, it could have been forever. Katarine staggered away from the wall and fell back into her chair, eyes totally blank and shaking all over. When she finally was able to speak, she said, “I'll leave and never bother any of you again. And I'll never speak of this to anyone. Ever.”

 Lilly said not a word, simply turned on her heel and left. Once she was gone, Flake pulled Katarine up out of the chair and said, “Get your stuff together and go before she comes back. She's not finished being mad and I'd be a thousand miles away if I were you. Next time you won't be so lucky. Next time you'll be dead.” Katarine took to her heels and ran out the open doorway, the sound of her high heels agaisnt the cement floor louder than gunshots in the quiet hallway. No one moved for a very, very long time; only Richard's shuddering sigh broke us out of our combined paralysis.

 “Someone needs to see to Lilly, she's going to be in a world of hurt once she realizes how much she's done,” Paul said. “Chris, you're the only one of us who's in any shape to deal with her safely. I'll go see what the hell is going on with Till; Ollie, you take Reesh back to mine and Ari's room and Flake, you make sure that idiot female is gone.” With our marching orders, we left to do as Paul asked.

 I didn't say anything to Richard the entire elevator ride up to our floor, I simply loosened the hold I had on his arm and kept him moving. Paul had tossed his card key at me as we'd left and I got Richard and myself into the room without being seen. I got Richard to sit down on the bed, made sure the door was locked and went back to him, pulling a chair behind me. Sitting down, I poked at his knee until his eyes focused on me and I said softly, “What in the hell happened?”

 “I got up early to run down to the florist's in the hotel lobby to get flowers for Lilly,” he said, rubbing his eyes with hands that shook. “I decided to go down the stairs so I wouldn't run into anyone and who should I run into but that whore. I had no idea she was in Moscow. I don't think even Till knew she was here.”

 “What did she want from you this time?” I asked, pulling one of the blankets off of the bed and swaddling Richard in its warmth. He smiled in thanks and said, “Same thing she did last time, Ollie. She wanted me to sleep with her and I said no. Only this time...this time I was smart enough to stand behind what I said. She got mad, told me she was more than willing to go to the press and spill our dirty laundry and say I'd raped her. I told her if she knew what was good for her, she'd fuck off and leave us all alone, especially Till, but she just laughed. She...she said that Till would believe her over me, especially since she had this big secret she could tell him that would make him hate me forever. That if Christoph and I slept with her, she'd keep her mouth shut. I knew what it was, it wasn't about Lilly and Chris, it was about me and Chris. She has no clue who Lilly is. And Till, to this day, still doesn't have an idea that I slept with her two years ago to keep her mouth shut. I can't tell him, Ollie, he'd kill me twice over before he listened to me.”

 “Tell me what?”

 I hadn't heard the door to the opposite suite open; I'd totally forgot that Till was next door and of course, Paul never locked the door between suites if one of us was next door. Richard froze in place like a rabbit that spots a hungry bird of prey and so did I, hoping Till hadn't heard anything. Or that Richard was ready and willing to lie like mad to keep Till from knowing what had happened. Till wandered into the room, rumpled and sleepy, perching himself on a nearby couch with a big, wide yawn. He cocked his head to the side and said, “Richard, what's going on? You look like shit. Did you fight with Lilly or Chris? What are you and Ollie doing in Paul and Arielle's room?”

 “Your fucking ex- or new girlfriend is what happened,” Arielle said as she came into the room, Lilly hot on her heels and Schneider right behind them trying to grab Lilly and pull her out of the room. “Katarine showed up here looking to start trouble and Lilly finished it. You really, really need to start thinking with the big head and not the little one.”

 “Huh?” Till asked, looking more and more confused by the moment. “I didn't invite her here. The last time I saw her was the opening night party and I talked to her for a few minutes but that's it. What's the dumb-ass gotten herself into this time? Trying to pick up underage boys?”

 “You mean to tell me you slept through this entire circus? Either you're the heavy sleeper to end all heavy sleepers, you weren't here, or you're lying,” Lilly said in a low, vicious voice. “God help you if you're lying. I'll fucking drag it out of you and I don't care if I hurt you doing it!”

 Till shot up from his seat and snapped, “I wasn't here! I went out for a walk early this morning because I couldn't sleep! I came back here about ten, fifteen minutes ago and laid down, and I was just falling asleep when I heard Ollie and Richard talking and wondered what was going on. Go ahead, go rummage through my brain, you'll see I'm not lying. I'd _never_ lie to you, stupid woman.”

 Lilly took Till up on his offer; her spine went rigid and her eyes completely black. “Prove it,” she hissed, standing up and getting right into his face.  She stared at Till, both of them barely breathing and sweat rolling down her face. Till's eyes were black corner to corner as well and I was terrified one of them would have a stroke before Lilly gasped, stepped backwards and began to fall. Till caught her before she hit the floor, scooping her up and depositing her unconscious form on the bed next to Richard. She'd blacked out; from the “static” I could feel in the bond, she was going to be out for at least an hour. I laid my hand on her forehead and felt heat blossoming under her skin. “She's got a fever,” I said, 'feeling' my way around the boundaries of her shielding. “And gonna have an awful headache from the over strain. Been there, got the t-shirt.”

 Richard gathered Lilly to him and said, “I don't think I can carry her back to our room. Till, could you...?”

 “Not a problem. But _someone_ is going to tell me what's been going on or I'm going to be quite annoyed the rest of the day,” Till replied, carefully taking Lilly from Richard and heading for the door. Arielle murmured a soft, “I'm sorry, Till,” as he left; he dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head as he left the room. Richard pushed himself up and tried to walk but I could see his knees were going to give out, so I slung one of his arms over my shoulder and said, “Come on Reesh, we've danced this dance before. If you puke on me I'll throw you out the window.” Richard said not a word, simply grabbed my wrist and hung on as I guided him back to the room he shared with Lilly and Schneider.

  


	8. Chapter 8

“Richard. Talk to me.”

“I don’t know where to start, Till.”

“Try the beginning. Always worked for me.”

The late afternoon sun coming through the windows of Till’s room warmed the air around the two of us but didn’t touch the ice in my heart. I’d stayed with Lilly most of the morning, waiting for her to wake up but she was still out cold. Christoph had been the only one of us able to reach her, wherever she’d gone in her mind, and after a quick peek had declared her all right, just exhausted and needing to sleep. I’d left them in our room and gone wandering around the hotel, hoping and praying that if…no, _when_ I ran into Till, I’d be strong enough to tell him what had happened between Katarine and I several years ago and what she had tried to pull that morning. I didn’t want to hurt one of my best friends but I had to tell him the truth.

I’d made two laps around the building’s perimeter when I saw Till coming down the sidewalk towards me. I stopped and leaned against the building, using a huge container full of some kind of fir tree to shield myself from the bitterly cold wind as best I could. Even with the calendar reading March, Moscow was still horribly cold and snowy. Till stood in front of me at last and said quietly, “Come back inside, Reesh. It’s too cold out here to be comfortable and not too private.”

“Are you sure you want to be in the same place I am?” I asked, huddling deeper into my coat. “You’re probably mad as can be right now at me, at everyone.”

“Why? I’m not mad at you, just very confused. Look, I’m freezing my balls off and you’re turning blue around the mouth. Let’s go back up to my room, get warm and you can tell me what’s got everyone so angry---and why Lilly is still unconscious.”

Minutes later, we were sitting in Till’s room, basking in the sunlight and waiting for our coffee to cool down enough to drink. We hadn’t said more than ‘thank you’ up until this moment; I fumbled my way through my thoughts before explaining to Till what had gone on.

“Do you remember all the trouble Katarine caused us in the middle of the US leg of the LIFAD tour?” I said. Till nodded slowly, so I continued. “I know you had it really bad for her and I don’t blame you. She’s fucking gorgeous. If she hadn’t gone after you so aggressively, I’d have done my own share of chasing. But I didn’t. I’m not like that, Till, I’d never….”

“You slept with her.”

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I stared at Till, probably looking like someone had come up behind me and smacked me in the head with a brick. “Buh…wha…how…” I babbled, waving my hands in the air in an attempt to knock something, anything loose. “How did you find out?”

Till snort-laughed at me and reached over to muss my hair. “You idiot. She _told_ me. Hell, she boasted about it! Said you were a better fuck than I could ever dream of being, for one. We’d had a huge argument that night and I told her to pack up her shit and go. I went to the after party and left her to do whatever she was going to do. When I got back, she was finishing her packing and we got into it again. That’s when she told me she’d fucked you and that you’d only done it to keep her from telling the press that you’d raped her and she was pregnant. She said she’d do it to me as well if I didn’t tell her I was sorry and I laughed in her face. It made her mad but hey, I didn’t care if I made her mad. She used me, I used her. When she showed up at the opening night party, I was as surprised as the rest of you. I didn’t invite her; hell, I have no clue who did. I saw the back of her head last night when we checked in, saw her at the party for a few moments but that was it. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s going to stay that way.”

Still unable to put a coherent sentence together, I got up from my seat and went over to the huge picture window to stare out over Moscow in hopes I’d be able to get my whirling thoughts under control. “You never said anything, Till,” I finally stammered out. “I’ve spent two years believing I did something horribly wrong and you didn’t say squat.”

“You never asked, Reesh. I thought that the less I said to you about the whole messy thing, the better. I never dreamed that surly little miss would show up and try the same crap again. And after what Lilly supposedly did to her, I don’t think we’ll ever see her again,” Till said, coming up to stand behind me. He ruffled my hair again and put an arm over my shoulder, hugging me to his side. “Maybe I should have said something. I’m sorry I didn’t and I’m sorry it caused you no end of hurting. And hurt everyone else.”

“She said she knew that Chris and I are sleeping together,” I murmured. “She said she had proof but wouldn’t say what it was. “She said if he and I would spend the night with her, she’d keep her mouth shut and go back to Germany. Otherwise we’d be all over the papers and what was said would be awful. Not like 99% of our fan base cares who or what we do in our personal lives. I can only imagine what lies she’d tell. I was getting ready to tell her to fuck off and talk to our lawyers when Ollie showed up. When Lilly got there…do you know what she did, Till?”

“I’m afraid to ask,” he said, a tiny tremor going through our bond and back. He had an inkling of what Lilly had done as he was able to do it as well, and his fear of losing control that much scared him. I turned to face him and said, “Till, she slammed Katarine into the wall without laying a hand on her. Then she touched her forehead and said, ‘Do you want to see Hell’? I don’t know what she made Katarine see but whatever it was, it scared her enough to agree to leave and never, ever tell anyone what she’d seen or heard. Or bother us again.”

“Do you believe she’ll do it?”

“Absolutely,” I replied. “But now I’m really scared of Lilly. You didn’t see the look on her face the whole time; she was _this_ close to killing Katarine and not thinking twice about it. You’re lucky she didn’t turn your brains into puree earlier. Lilly’s losing control of her talent again and I don’t know if we’re going to be able to stop her the next time.”

“But she seems so happy and content with you and Chris,” Till said. “I thought that being here with you, with us, would give her time to get herself completely under control.”

“She _is_ happy with us,” I said with an exhausted sigh. “I’m thinking some switch in her brain got tripped when Katarine threatened me and she went into protect or kill mode. You know how protective she is of us.”

“That’s true, but she accused me of lying about where I was this morning,” Till replied, going over to the table and retrieving our now-cold coffees. “I promised her I’d never, ever, lie to her. She’s become my little sister, in a way. I’d do just about anything to keep her from getting hurt but lying isn’t one of them. I know she was hurting and upset, so if you talk to her before I do, please tell her I’m not in any way angry with her. Shocked, perhaps, but angry, no.”

I was too exhausted to think of much more; I took a drink of my coffee and grimaced at the sludgy taste. “Yuck. That’s nasty. Do you mind if I crash here for an hour or so, Till? I really should go check on Chris and Lilly but I’m so tired I can hardly see straight.”

Till leaned over my chair and hugged me as hard as he could without squishing me. “You bet. Do you want me to go check on them, or wait a while longer?”

 "Nah, they’ll be all right. Chris will yell if he needs anyone,” I murmured, kicking my shoes off and falling face-first onto Till’s bed. I felt the blankets being tossed over me as I sunk into a dreamless sleep, the sound of Till’s amused laugh as I passed out the last thing I could make out before I heard nothing more.


	9. Chapter 9

To: [smithandjones@***.com](mailto:smithandjones@***.com)

From: [gillainduprix@***.com](mailto:gillainduprix@***.com)

An update for your files, Smitty.

 

I was finally able to review the files that our US office had on Dr. N. Williams last week via courier and all I have to say is whoever let that monster out of their sight is an idiot and an accessory to multiple murders. I know his previous employers had their reasons to let him go but they should have kept better tabs on him than they did. I was sickened by the numerous reports of what he did to all of those innocent children. It’s a good thing you passed this task on to me, I can’t even begin to imagine how PJ would handle reading them, what with him having three kids and a baby on the way. As it is now, I’m knocking myself out with a few generous shots of whiskey before bed so I don’t dream of them.

The post-mortem test results on Dr. William’s brain were incomplete as the body was “accidentally” cremated halfway through the autopsy. What information was available showed that the brain was riddled with multiple tumors, all but one cancerous, and cancer types that have _never_ been seen in the brain. Tissue and bone marrow samples showed irreversible damage to cell structure from an unknown source, my guess being his use of numerous, untested and/or illegal drugs in an attempt to force a physical change on himself as well as his tinkering with what is now called the _“Rammelied”_ virus. DNA samples were taken and showed multiple mutations to his DNA to the point there was nothing recognizable, human or otherwise. If he wouldn’t have been killed during the rescue of our most recent additions to the Watcher List, he would have died within weeks from any of the cancers he had or from his body simply giving up from overstress. His heart was measured to be six times larger than normal, liver and kidneys were three times smaller than the normal human kidney or liver, and there were large growths on his skeleton, especially his fingernails. His jaw looked like it had reshaped into a canine-like appearance complete with fangs.

There was one interesting note in the files that I’m sure no one looked at. Dr. Williams wrote that he had managed to get one of his “lab rats” pregnant but he makes no mention if it was one of the female children he took or someone else. For the mother’s sake, I hope she either lost it or it died at birth. There is no way a child conceived from that man’s genetic material could be remotely human. There is nothing else in the files on this subject.

I had an interesting conversation with one of our Russian Watchers yesterday. They were staying at the same hotel our Subjects are staying in for their shows in Moscow. It seems that there was a confrontation between LB and an unknown female early that morning, over what my source wasn’t clear on. They were clear that at one point, the unknown female was shoved against a wall without being touched, and LB made a comment that is thought to be “Katarine, do you want to see Hell?” The person later checked out of the hotel and has not been seen since. I wasn’t going to pry, but I’d put good odds on our Russian fellows getting hold of her and either eliminating her or replacing her memories, if she has any mind left.

PS: You can tell the rest of the staff that CC won the bet; LB is involved with RZK. But here’s the big surprise---they are in a triad relationship with CS. Hopefully this relationship will remain stable; I can’t imagine the explosion and aftermath if it doesn’t.

::::

March 19, 20—

Russalka Logistics,

Gorky Park,

Moscow

 

To Who It May Concern:

We appreciate our chance to work with you and your agency, and thank you for your quick response at such a short notice. It is our understanding that the package was delivered safely and in a timely manner. Please find enclosed a check for payment to invoice number #377-A.

Sincerely,

The SmithJones Group

::::

March 22, 20—

 

Delorne Hospital

Skywheel Way

London, England

 

Mr. Jones:

As per your telephone request of this morning, this letter is to certify that Miss Catherine Silvertonne was admitted to this hospital on March 14, 20--. She was found in an Employees Only section of Heathrow Airport on the morning of March 14, 20--, unresponsive to all stimuli, soaking wet and shoeless. A cellphone found on her person had been completely wiped, but her passport which was in her purse gave us her ID and next of kin. At this time, she is still in a comatose state, unresponsive. She has been fitted with a feeding tube, catheter and GI bag as x-rays, MRI and EEG show little to no brainwave activity. We are waiting to see what her next of kin wishes to do.

Sincerely,

 

JK Michaels, Head of Hospital

 

_Handwritten note attached to letter:_

 

“ _Whatever happened to this woman I have no clue. I’ve never seen such systemic brain damage in all my years as a doctor. It’s as if someone took a blender, threw the brain in, pureed it, and put it back inside a brain-shaped mold. This poor woman will never wake up and I’m hoping her next of kin will think of her wishes and let her go."  
_

 


	10. Chapter 10

We were able to get through the show the next evening, but barely. Lilly slept almost twenty four hours, only waking up moments before we were supposed to leave for the arena to do sound check. Richard made her stay in the dressing room, pleading for Dmitri to find someone to cover for her that night so she could continue to rest. I don’t know what Richard told him but he found someone on the crew who knew basic first aid within a couple of hours. Lilly was back to sleep the second I left the dressing room, locking herself away from us. It hurt like hell to say the very least. Adding that to the strain of Till’s ex-girlfriend showing up, raising hell and the fallout from that, and you had a very grumpy, tired and snappish bunch of Germans. Arielle had headed back home right after the shw as she was needed at work, making us promise if we needed her, we'd call.

I don’t have a clear memory of that night; thankfully we record all of our shows. On the surface, everything looked normal but anyone who knew us could immediately read the strain and nervousness in our eyes and body language. Till wasn’t as careful with the bathtub stunt and barely missed knocking Flake’s head on the side of the iron tub; Flake got his revenge later in the show when he was supposed to kick at Till and miss. I didn’t see his booted foot connect with Till’s shoulder but I felt it as if I'd been kicked. Till’s temper finally flared up; he was glaring daggers at Flake, who was waiting for another chance to kick him.

Paul yelled, _**::Settle the fuck down or I’m coming over there and kicking you both in the head! You fuck this show up and I’m going to be very unhappy for a long, long time!::**_ Paul didn’t raise his voice often but when he did, his resulting storm of rage rivaled any force of nature on the planet. Ollie and I kept looking at each other all night, worried that we’d be at each other’s throats by the end of the show. We were tired, stretched too thin emotionally and physically, our good mood ruined by the incident between Katarine, Lilly and Richard, and only two days off before the real grind of the tour would begin. The new schedule had us playing three weeks straight with four days off for the next few months, with three or four shows per week depending on location and how well tickets sold. We were pushing two hours as it was now with the show and weren’t willing to drop one song from the set to shorten it. Something needed to give or all of us would and that would be a catastrophe.

When the show was over and we’d taken our final bows, it took the last dregs of my strength to stumble backstage and fall onto the first flat surface I could find. My arms burned and ached, my thigh muscles were declaring war and I didn’t have any feeling in my fingers. The table I’d landed on was ice cold and soaked up all the body heat I had, which felt wonderful. _I could lie here for the rest of the night and not give a rat’s ass,_ I thought to myself. I was soaking wet, clear down to my boxers, and if my hair had gotten any wetter, it would have been stick straight.

“Chris, you okay?” Richard asked, laying a hand on the small of my back. His warm hand on my cold skin made me yelp but I was too tired to move. “Damn, your skin is like ice!” he said.

“If you love me you won’t make me move,” I groaned, struggling to get an arm under my head so my cheek wouldn’t become cemented to the table from sweat, stage makeup and skin oils. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a tank. I don’t think I’ve been this sore in a long time after a show.”

“There's a hot tub back at the hotel,” Richard said, slowly folding himself to the floor next to the table. “Once we get Lilly settled, I'm going to crawl in there and not come out until my hair wrinkles.”

“Sounds like a most excellent idea,” I mumbled. “I should probably get up and shower. Or better yet, you could go get a bucket full of warm water and throw it on me.”

“Chris? Reesh? Are you all right?”

I raised my head high enough to see Lilly leaning weakly on the door frame of the dressing room. She looked like a stiff breeze would blow her away and her legs were shaking. Paul came dashing out of nowhere and fussed at her until she let him walk her over to a soft, squishy chair and lower her into it. “I'm fine, Paul. Worn out but I'm okay.”

“No you're not, Lilly,” Paul said, digging through an ice chest and pulling out a bottle of water and handing it to her. “Drink that. You're barely hydrated as it is. And you've lost weight. I can tell because your collarbones are sticking out and there's shadows under your eyes that weren't there a couple days ago.” Lilly shot me a sideways look before uncapping the bottle and drinking half of the water down in one long swallow. “Do you pester your wife and daughter this much?” she said wryly.

“Yes I do and yes I'm good at it,” Paul replied, pulling bottles of water out for himself, Richard and me. I pressed the cold, sweating bottle to my forehead and sighed as the chill worked its way through my skull. “And Schneider, drink that, don't play with it,” Paul continued, poking my shoulder for emphasis.

“Gods and small dogs, you're as bad as my mother,” I grumbled, slowly peeling myself off of the table and sitting up with a groan. I drank my water down as I was told, feeling the moisture work its way through sweat-depleted tissues. Richard was leaning against the table leg, a towel thrown over his head as he worked his heavy boots and socks off.

I saw a flash of green out of the corner of my eye; following it I realized that someone had painted Richard's toenails an eye-bleeding neon green. I tried to choke back the giggle fit that worked its way out of my chest but I couldn't hold it back. I flopped down on the table again and howled, weakly banging my fist on the table top. By this point, Till, Ollie and Flake had arrived and seeing me wallowing around on the table, laughing so hard I was close to hiccupping, stopped right in front of Richard, which caused them to pile into one other. Ollie saw me trying to point at Richard and when he followed where my finger was pointing, he leaned against a wall and began laughing too. Flake snorted and shook his head, hiding a huge smile behind his hand, and Till commented, “Nice paint job. Doesn't go with your red and black nail polish but it is pretty.”

“I didn't do it on purpose!” Richard yelled. “I fell asleep at Paul and Ari's house while we were waiting to go to the airport to come here and when I woke up, Paul and our Lilly was standing over me, snickering and holding bottles of that green nail polish. We didn't have time for me to take it off before we left so I left it on and forgot to take it off. Stop laughing Christoph, Ollie!”

“Oh, the color just _suits_ you!” I giggled, wriggling over on the table so Ollie could take a seat. He peered at Richard's vividly colored toes and said, “Kind of Christmas-y. You gonna put sparkles over that?” Richard got up, snatched his boots and socks from the floor and flounced out of the room, hollering “You're just jealous!” over his shoulder. Thankfully we had the sense to hold off on laughing at him some more till he'd left the room and gotten into the shower, else I'm sure there would have been various and sundry things thrown at us. Lilly, who was leaning over the side of her chair trying to catch her breath, said, “Now I know what to do after he goes to sleep tonight. I have a lovely gold sparkle polish that would go just great with that green.”

“IF I WAKE UP WITH GREEN AND GOLD TOENAILS, SOMEONE IS GOING TO BE VERY SORRY!”

:::

Richard and I were the only ones awake enough to use the hot tub after we got back to the hotel. No after party had been planned and we were all thankful; I didn't believe anyone could have gotten through that without falling asleep halfway through, which would really have offended someone. Lilly was tucked up in bed, asleep again, and looking somewhat better than she had earlier in the evening. She'd griped at us when we'd insisted she go back to bed and not join us in the hot tub, but after she lost her balance more than once as we walked from the elevator to our room, she'd given in and had fallen asleep shortly after I'd settled her in bed.

Richard was easing himself into the bubbling, rolling water when I arrived. He smiled at me through the steam and said, “You might want to ease yourself in. It's really, really hot.” Dipping a toe into the water, I jerked my foot back with a wince. “No shit. What are these people trying to do, cook us up for someone's dinner?” Richard snickered and started singing the chorus to “Mein Teil” softly. I rolled my eyes as I settled into the deep water, hissing slightly at the water temperature. It was a lot hotter than I was used to but I got used to it quickly; once I was comfortable, I found a spot on one of the carved benches where I could rest my head on the side of the tub and settled back to soak.

“I need one of these at my house,” I murmured, closing my eyes against the chlorine-scented steam. “Outside, maybe. Yeah, that would be neat, especially in winter. Maybe put a sauna in too.”

“You do that and I'll move in permanently,” Richard said. “The kits would love your house, what with it being out in the country and all.”

I opened an eye and considered what Richard had said. “If I asked, would you? I mean, you, Lilly and the kittens? Honestly?”

“Sure. I wouldn't want to give up my apartment but if you asked and were serious, I'd move in with you.”

I sat up, flabbergasted, and stared at Richard. He had his eyes closed and was leaning back against the side of the hot tub, but there was a slight smile on his face. Without opening his eyes, he murmured, “What? You don’t think I’ve considered this? I was going to ask you the same thing eventually.”

“Reesh, I…I don’t know what to say. We live out of each other’s pockets almost the entire year. You and I have lived together before but…you would, honestly?” I stammered. Richard laughed and slid over to my side of the hot tub, poking me in the ribs so I would move over and let him get comfortable. He took my left hand which was underwater and squeezed it gently, saying, “Don’t get so flustered, Chris! It’s nothing we have to do right at this very minute! I was just letting you know that if you asked me to move in, I’d be very glad and very honored. And you know Lilly would say the same thing.”

I had to look away so Richard couldn’t see the emotion in my eyes. I was shocked, happy and terrified all at once, and had no idea how to deal with any of them. I bit my lip and leaned back against the side of the hot tub again, getting my thoughts in order as best I could without becoming a flailing, shrieking mess. “Thanks, Reesh,” I said at last, squeezing his hand in return. “Everything’s happening so damn fast sometimes, I almost can’t deal with all of it.”

“That’s why I said we don’t have to make any decisions right away,” Richard replied. “We’ve got a heavy schedule coming up and moving in together is last on my list of things to think about.”

“You’re right,” I sighed, relaxing at last into the hot water and closing my eyes again. Still holding Richard’s hand, I drifted into a soothing, half-awake daze, letting the hot water do its magic on my aches and pains. At some point I must have turned on my side, for when Richard gently shook me awake about twenty minutes later, I was curled up in his lap, head on his shoulder. I peered up through wet eyelashes and said, “I hope no one sees us.”

“Not a soul. I figured I’d move a little closer so if you did fall asleep, I’d keep you above water,” he said softly. “How do you feel?”

“Like I could drift away and sleep for a week,” I said, unwinding myself and stretching. “You?”

“Same thing. I’d had a notion to take you upstairs and fool around but I’d fall asleep in the middle of everything which would be embarrassing for me and annoying for you,” Richard replied, standing up and imitating my stretch. “Let’s dry off and go to bed. At least we can sleep in a couple of hours tomorrow before our flight back home.”

Lilly woke long enough to smile up at me as I clambered into bed with her and Richard an hour later. I’d given him the choice of showering first while I caught up on some e-mail, and he hadn’t been in bed ten minutes before falling asleep. I was clean, smelled nice and sleepy after my quick shower and I took a second to “see” if everyone else was all right. Everyone was deep in dreams, Till snoring like a dragon with a head cold as always, and Paul was muttering in his sleep. I bit back giggles at that; Paul never shut up, even in sleep. I remembered the days when I’d shared an apartment with him, Flake and Ollie, adding Richard later on when he returned from the West, and the nights one of us had to pound on the wall or kick the end of his bed to shut him up, if only temporarily. Ollie and Flake were beyond REM sleep, so I let their presences fade away into the back of my head without bothering them. Sliding my arm around Lilly’s waist, I snuggled into her silky, rose-scented hair and drifted away.

 


	11. Chapter 11

Just when things were going swimmingly, all hell broke loose.

We were in Japan, doing three nights at Budokan, selling out all three nights within hours. We hadn’t been to Japan in a long time and were looking forward to spending our precious one day off touring around the city, showing Lilly all the sights, especially the famed cherry blossom trees. I strolled along behind Lilly, Richard, Schneider and Ollie, hiding a grin behind my hand as I watched her face light up at her first view of the trees. The sweet, light and sensual odor coming from the millions of blossoms couldn’t be captured in any perfume I’d ever found. The sidewalks under the huge grove of trees were swept so clean you could have eaten from them, but there were a few petals and whole blossoms lying about. I stopped to pluck a fallen blossom from one of the trees and breathed its scent in with a happy sigh. As much as I disliked touring, perks like this that made it all worthwhile.

Ollie had convinced our trio of lovebirds to pose for him in a lovely little spot under an arbor made by coaxing the tree limbs to grow into an arch. I found a nearby bench and sat down to watch them, no longer finding it odd to see the three of them practically glued at the hip. In fact, not seeing them this way had become strange. I didn’t mind it one bit, for Lilly’s presence had smoothed a lot of ruffled feathers and eased bad moods, gently nudging us back to the closeness the six of us had long ago. We still had our disagreements and arguments but not the vicious, knock-down-drag-out fights that had become common.

“Get your butt over here, Flake, and get in the picture,” Ollie called to me, breaking me out of my reverie. I couldn’t resist Lilly’s pleading expression; I got up and squashed myself in between Schneider and Lilly, clinging to the back of their shirts so I wouldn’t fall backwards. The arbor was barely wide and tall enough for three people, four people was almost too much, even with me being skinny as a rail. We were all giggling like nutters while Ollie took picture after picture, finally stopping a passer-by to take a few of the five of us before declaring that he was done. “Too bad Paul wasn’t here,” he said, stowing his camera away in the messenger bad he’d slung over one shoulder. “I don’t think I’ve seen the cherry blossoms so bright and so many of them in a long time.”

“Well, he drew the short straw to do those radio interviews and the one guitar magazine interview,” Richard said, shaking a few errant blossoms out of his hair. “I volunteered to do them but he ordered me to show Lilly the cherry blossoms or he’d, and I quote, ‘wallop my sorry ass from one end of the island and back, then throw live pufferfish at me.’ The walloping I could handle, being pummeled by poisonous little fishies, not so much.”

I snorted in amusement as we continued our walk through the park, enjoying the warm afternoon sun and the soft murmur of my friend’s voices, both mentally and out loud. I hadn’t felt this peaceful in far too long and the feeling was wonderful. I was planning when we got back to the hotel to quickly sketch out a few ideas for a drawing of one of the trees, when I looked up and saw a beautiful woman standing in the middle of the pathway, just at the edge of the grove of trees we’d walked through. She was wearing a brilliant, plain white kimono, her jet-black hair up in an elaborate hairstyle, and her face done up in the pale makeup, red lips and dark eyes rimmed with black eyeliner of a Geisha. Something seemed very off to me at first; when I looked at her more closely, I could see that her feet didn’t touch the ground and I could see through her the tiniest bit. I came to a stumbling halt in front of her, which caused my companions to run smack into me. I opened my mouth to apologize to the lovely lady, but she raised her hand and said, “It is all right. I have been asked to convey a message to Richard Kruspe by my master.”

Richard had turned as white as the lady’s kimono; Schneider stepped in front of him, saying in an icy tone, “Not one step closer, honored _kitsune_. Give us your master’s message and then go.”

The woman in white bowed deeply in Schneider’s direction, her white kimono rustling like leaves as she raised herself up. The tips of nine pure white fox tails peeped out of the hem of her kimono for a few seconds; she winked at me and smiled saucily at Schneider. “Not only are you lovely, you have the most steadfast heart. The message is _“Even as you hold darkness in your hand, you will live in the light as long as you remember that love is the strongest bond of all.”_

Lilly slipped her arm free of Richard’s and walked up to the _kitsune_ , stopping a respectful distance away and offering her the same deep bow the _kitsune_ had given to Schneider. “I think my beloved is a bit shell-shocked,” she said. “I apologize. Not to be rude, but who is your master and why did he send you?”

The _kitsune_ smiled and gestured that we follow her to another grove of trees, this one with several small benches in a circle at the back of the grove. We trailed along like ducklings, giving each other nervous glances, not asking why we were following a creature from legend so obediently. I couldn’t feel anything evil coming from her, just a warm sense of amusement, humor and mischief. We arranged ourselves in the grove with Richard between Schneider and Ollie, with me on Schneider’s right and Lilly on Ollie’s left. The _kitsune_ sat gracefully down on the bench right across from us, folding her snow-white hands into the sleeves of her robe. “You may call me Miko,” she said, fixing us with a queenly smile. “My master would prefer to remain anonymous. Let us say he is someone who keeps an eye on those like yourselves.”

“You mean we’re…we’re not the only ones?” Richard stammered, grabbing Schneider’s hand and clinging to it while Ollie grabbed his other hand. “We’re not alone? Why haven’t any of them found us?”

“There are those out there who are born where yours were man-made,” Miko said. “I do not know if you had never found your lady love, your talents would have developed on their own. The virus did what nature would have done, maybe. My master knows that you seven people are the first to have their talents forced into being. That you came through that without going mad or any other damage is nothing short of a miracle.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Ollie said. “We’ve all had our bad moments getting used to being different. I know it still gives me nightmares.”

“If you didn’t have them, I would be very concerned,” Miko said. “I was referring to brain damage, psychological damage or physical damage. By all accounts, you are healthy and well-adjusted to what you have become.”

“So we’re healthy as horses,” Richard muttered. “I don’t suppose you can tell us what your master’s message means. Or that you’d be inclined to tell the truth. After all, you’re a _kitsune_. A trickster spirit.”

Miko frowned, leaning over to smack Richard's knee smartly with the edge of an elaborate, bamboo and silk fan that suddenly appeared from inside her sleeve. Ignoring his yelp of pain and surprise, she said, “For all that I am a trickster, I am not cruel. You, little cat, have one last talent that still sleeps. A talent that only a being like myself can wake. It will be your decision to make if you want it to awaken or if you wish for me to take it from you. But be warned, it is woven so deeply with the rest of your talents, removing it might take them as well.”

“What…what is it?” Richard asked, eyes wide and skin as white as Miko’s kimono. “Something awful?”

“It depends on what you call ‘awful.’ Haven’t you ever wondered why your soul houses so much darkness? Not the darkness of evil but the darkness of a soul that has seen too much but can’t look away?” Miko said in a soothing tone.

“I thought it was just me,” Richard said. “I’m not as dark and spooky as Till is, though.”

“True. He has something similar, but not this. If you trust me, and I know that it is hard, I will awaken this gift and at the same time, show you how it works. If it seems like it will do you harm, I will put it back to sleep but I cannot guarantee something or someone else will not awaken it. And it might mean disaster or death.”

Richard made a noise deep in his throat that could have been a groan or a sob, letting his head drop into his hands. “I…I don’t know, Miko. I don’t know what to do.” Miko stood and crossed the short distance between us; kneeling at his feet, she said softly, “I will do the best I can and if you need me while you are here, I am only a shout away. Your lovers and friends will always love you and stand by you. There are people out in the world who will watch over you the rest of your days and protect you if it is absolutely necessary. Please, Richard, please trust me.”

Ollie and I moved away to let Schneider and Lilly seat themselves on either side of our trembling, terrified guitar player, taking up spots on either side of them behind the bench. Richard gazed into everyone’s eyes for a long, long time, then whispered, “I’m ready. Will it hurt?”

“Not a bit,” Miko said, smiling sweetly at him. She turned her fan on one edge and nicked her index finger, causing blood that was as red as roses to well up on her snow-white skin. Holding her finger out, she said, “One drop of my blood will wake this talent. Do you consent, little cat?”

Richard took Miko’s hand, bowed over it and quickly lapped away the tear of blood that glistened against her flesh. He sat back with a gasp, eyes rolling back in his head, hands clenching tight on Lilly and Schneider’s. Ollie and I put our hands on his shoulders to keep him from sliding down and off the bench, and in that second, we saw Richard’s final talent come crashing awake.

“Oh sweet mother of God,” I whispered. “Richard…you’re a necromancer.”

 

 

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

“I'm a _what?_ ”

The serene-faced woman sitting across from us bowed her head, a shower of cherry blossoms falling into her night-black hair from the trees above. When she looked up, she said, “You are a necromancer, Richard. You can read a dead person's last thoughts and words from a drop of their blood. You can speak to the dead as long as they are no more than twenty four hours expired. Animals that are associated with Death such as black cats, ravens and the like, will answer your call. You cannot bring the dead back to life, nor can you stop Death from doing Her duty. You will be able to see Death when She comes to perform Her tasks and you can speak to Her, if She wishes to do so. You will be able to call a person's blood or soul from them. But if you do this for amusement, to gain power, Death will come for you.”

Richard's face couldn't have gotten any paler, nor his eyes any wider. He clutched my hand so hard I thought he was going to break my fingers but I held on all the same. Out of all the talents I'd ever thought a person could have, necromancy wasn't one of them. I swallowed as hard as I could despite a dry throat and croaked, “Lady Miko, are you sure? Why Richard? If anyone in the band should be a necromancer it should be Till. If you know what he's like, you'll understand.”

“Till has the darkness like Richard, but he does not have the necromancer's talents,” Miko replied. “His darkness comes out in his poetry, his lyrics. If things had been different, he might be as he is.”

“So...does this mean I'm evil or...?” Richard said, beginning to tremble and sweat. “I can be a nasty, self-centered person sometimes but I'm not evil. Please, Miko...I'm not a bad person...”

“Little cat, you are as far from evil as a newborn child is !” Miko replied, reaching over to lay her hands on my lover's clenched hands. “You are one of the few mortals who can stand in that grey area between good and evil, black and white, and not fall.”

“I’m not going to have to go around waiting for people to die so I can find out what their last words are, am I? Or…escort the dead to wherever they go?” Richard asked, looking into Miko’s eyes, pleading with everything he had that he not have to do anything like this. “No. You may never be called to do that, or you might once in a lifetime. If you allow me, I shall show you how your talent works and all the things you will need to know,” she said, holding one hand out for him to take.

**_::I don’t know if I can do this!_ ::** Richard cried out to us. **_::I can’t do this, I’m not strong enough! I’m…I’m scared::_**

I kissed Richard on the forehead, pulling him close so he could bury his face in my neck. Schneider put his arm around Richard’s waist and glared at Miko; I could feel Ollie and Flake doing the same. “If you hurt him,” Flake growled, “I don’t care if you’re a divine being or whatever, I will hunt you down and skin you alive.”

 Miko stood up in a rush, her skirts rustling with the movement and sounding more like dry bones on concrete than leaves whispering in the wind. She glared at Flake, black eyes narrowing as she stared him down, neither of them blinking. Tendrils of bleached-blonde hair floated on a breeze none of us could feel and ice blue eyes shaded to sky blue as Flake glared at Miko, jaw set and growling ever so faintly under his breath. “I could destroy you with one touch,” the _kitsune_ said in a voice that was colder than dry ice. “How dare you _insult_ me, child-of-cranes?”

 “What _is_ it with people calling me a crane?” Flake murmured, never looking away. “Just because I'm bloody skinny doesn't mean I'm a bird!”

 Miko began laughing, covering her mouth with one hand and popping her fan open with the other. She waved in front of her face, drying the tears of laughter that were threatening to fall down her face. “A strong, brave heart, although foolish. I promise by all of my tails and my very soul that I will not harm Richard, nor you, nor any of your family by blood or by soul.” She bowed deeply to Flake, who returned the bow, saying, “I'm sorry. It's not every day you wake up and find out one of your best friends is a necromancer. Among other things.”

 “It is not a problem. You are forgiven, my child,” Miko said, sitting back down and settling her skirts about her again. She took my hand and Richard's in one of her small ones, smiling at us, then held out her free hand for Schneider to take. He did so, and she said, “Little cat, Richard, you have seen the darkest side of humanity and you have seen the brightest. That you are able to stand in between, in the grey, and remain who you are, speaks of your courage. You can do this. You are not purely a necromancer. You are a powerful telepath and empath, among other things. Those are stronger than the necromantic talent you have, and they are worth more in the long run.”

 Richard sighed and leaned his head against my shoulder; I could feel his nervousness twinned with excitement and more than a little fear as if it were my own. “You said if I ever need help, you'll come?” he said to Miko. “Do you promise?”

 “As long as are here, my little cat, and beyond,” Miko replied in a soft, sweet voice. She stood up and handed me her fan, bowing to me as her cool fingers folded mine over it. “Like you, this is more than a thing of beauty, Lilly-san.  I have carried this for many years; now it is yours.”

 “Lady...Lady Miko, I can't take this!” I gasped, trying to push the fan back at her. She smiled at me and said in a quiet voice, “Take it, my child, and with my blessing and love. You might need it to smack those boys into obedience from time to time.” I laid the fan in my lap, stroking the pure-white silk carefully, blinking tears back. I felt Ollie's hand squeeze my shoulder; I looked up and he winked at me. Miko stood and bowed deeply to him, saying, “Strong and silent like the mountains, but a heart as fierce as the ocean. If you call, I will come.” Ollie returned the bow; when he stood he said, “Thank you, honored _kitsune_ , Lady Miko.”

 She turned to Schneider, who was still on his guard against her, every fiber of his being on alert. She laid a hand on his cheek and said, “And you, who saw through my disguise, you who can see through the veils and the untruths, lovely Christoph, I give you the same vow.” He blushed deeply and dipped his head so his curls fell over his face and whispered, “Thank you, Lady Miko.” She stood up on her tiptoes and murmured something in his ear which made his blush deepen and Miko to giggle coquettishly.

 “I leave you now, but I and my kind will watch over you while you are here in Japan,” Miko said, bowing to each of us again and granting us with her glowing, beautiful smile. Before we could blink, she was gone in a whirlwind of pink and white cherry blossoms. I wobbled to my feet and walked out of the arbor, my boys trailing behind me. I saw a quick flash of pure white slipping under a bush and heard a woman's chiming laughter fade into the breeze.

 “Lilly, look at the fan Miko gave you,” Schneider said in a voice full of wonder. I lifted my hand up and saw something appearing on the silken material. I opened the fan to its fullest and my jaw dropped as I stared at the images appearing in front of our eyes.

 A dragon with ocean blue eyes and silver and red wings.

 A four tailed _kitsune_ with blue-grey eyes, and the faintest hint of flames around its shoulders.

 An indigo-blue eyed cat, winking coyly, the same hint of flames around its feet.

 A crane with a shock of white hair and crystalline blue eyes, one taloned foot resting on an open scroll.

 A green eyed, dark grey stallion standing in front of a mountain with ocean waves foaming around its hooves, flames and waves making up its mane and tail.

 An eagle with greeny-blue eyes, wings arched and talons extended to hold a tongue of flame and a swirl of water between them.

 And stitched along the very top of the fan in shades of green, gold, blue and red, an elaborately design of a lily intertwined with flames and water.

  

 


	13. Chapter 13

The gorgeous silk fan that lay across my knees was a work of art. The faintest scent of cherry blossoms and jasmine floated up to me from the fabric; I gently stroked the dragon design and it seemed to move underneath my touch. I could feel every separate scale that made up its hide, every individual bone of its wings, and the faint smell of incense and brimstone tickled my nose.

“You...you said a _kitsune_ gave you this?” I asked Lilly, who nodded solemnly at me. “And that Reesh is a necromancer?” She sighed and took the fan from me, smoothing her fingers over the polished bamboo staves. “The one day I decide to sleep in and you guys get to meet a creature out of myth, and my best friend gets turned into a necromancer.”

“It’s not like I _planned_ it, Till,” Richard said from his spot on the bed he shared with Lilly and Schneider. “And she didn’t turn me into a necromancer, I already had the talent. It just wasn’t active.”

I sighed, trying not to feel jealous of my friends and not having much luck. I’d had a wild night with a couple of “friends” I’d met in the bar after the show, and waking up with a hangover and an upset stomach had put the kibosh on any plans I might have made. Had I not gotten a little tipsy and gone off with a pair of gorgeous twins, I would have been bright eyed and bushy tailed, so to speak.

I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I hated the empty place in my bed most nights. Catarine’s showing up unexpectedly had rattled me more than I wanted to admit, especially when she had tried to go after Richard again, using the same tricks she had several years previous. I’d done everything but hide out in an amplifier case to avoid being around her; now that I could sense the emotions of anyone on the planet, her nasty, cruel thoughts had made me want to throw myself into a tub of bleach. How I hadn’t seen how she truly was very embarrassing, and after Lilly and Arielle had read me the riot act, I’d admitted that yes, I had been thinking with the little head and not the big one.

“Lady Miko said that you have the same kind of “darkness” as I do but your talent comes out in your poetry, your lyrics,” Richard continued. “Maybe I have the necromantic talent because…maybe I can handle it better? I don’t know, Till, and I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry? Richard, as far as I’m concerned it’s a good thing you’re the necromancer and not me. I’m morbid enough as it is! I’m just a little jealous because you got to meet a _kisune_!” I said. “ _Especially_ if she was pretty.”

Schneider swatted me on the knee with the pen he’d been playing with. “You _would_ want to meet her and charm her into bed!” he laughed. “Who knows, maybe one of those ladies I saw you leaving the bar with last night might have been one!”

“Nah, I’m not so lucky,” I said, yawning and stretching my back carefully. Quick healing ability or no, I still had twinges in my back from time to time and didn’t want to hurt myself. “So. I figured out that the cat is Reesh and the dragon is me, the crane is Flake, but who’s the others?”

“I’m the eagle,” Schneider said, pointing to the fan Lilly still had unfolded on the bed. “Ollie’s the horse, so that leaves Paul as the four tailed _kitsune_. That makes sense if you think about it.” As I gave the fan another looking over, the _kitsune_ winked at me, the crane ruffled its feathers up and the cat stretched itself upward like a Halloween cat. If I’d been holding the fan I would have dropped it. The eagle, horse and dragon stayed in place, thankfully.

“This is nuts,” I said, dropping my head into my hands. “If I had any mind left to lose, it would be headed down the road with its bags packed.”

Lilly wriggled off the bed and put her arms around me, resting her head on top of mine. “I wish I could change things, I really do,” she said softly. “I hate that you’re lonely. I hate that weird shit and old girlfriends and mythical beings show up and wreak havoc on our lives. I wish I could make it better but I can’t.”

“It’s okay, Lilly!” I said, letting her hug me as hard as she wanted. “You know how I am, King of All That Is Grumpy.”

**_::You’re lonely_::** Lilly said to me privately. **_::You try to act all big and aggressive and bad ass but you’re a big softy. I just want you to be happy::_**

**_::I know, and thank you lovey::_** I replied. **_::I’m not the best person when it comes to monogamy but one does get a bit lonely. Are you sure there’s no magic spell out there to clone you?::_**

**_::If there was, I’d tell you first thing::_** Lilly said with a warm laugh. She let go of me and retrieved her fan from Schneider, carefully wrapping it in a silk nightgown and stowing it in the backpack she carried all of her essentials in. When I raised an eyebrow at what she was doing, she said, “Silk insulates. If there’s any bad guys out there looking for a magical object, they’ll have a hard time finding this, if at all.”

“Do you think there is?” Richard asked, head pillowed on Schneider’s back, gazing at us through heavy-lidded eyes. “I mean, other magical objects out there, we already know about the bad guys.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised myself if there were,” I said as I prized myself out of the chair I’d been slumped in. “Who knows, maybe some housewife in Schwerin has the Holy Grail in her kitchen cabinet.”

:::

The post show party that night was at a nearby sushi restaurant that we’d been to several times before. Schneider especially liked it because it had a huge vegetarian selection. Even me, who was the consummate meat-eater, liked a good bit of the menu that had nothing remotely meat-like in it. Lilly got an education in Japanese food as we sat around the huge table, chattering a mile a minute about what was especially delicious and what to stay away from. Richard’s contribution was “Don’t eat anything that’s still moving when it gets to the table. That’s just…ugh. Icky.” We’d all laughed at his comment, with Paul telling Lilly the story about Richard’s first encounter with octopus in a Japanese restaurant.

The evening was winding down gradually, with everyone agreeing that we’d better be seeing our beds within the next hour. Art was rounding up the waiter to pay the check, Lilly and Richard were discussing something with Ollie and Flake, while Paul and Schneider split the last of the green tea. I was staring idly out the window, brain running in idle mode, when I saw her. I sat up in my seat to get a better look and when I did, it was all I could do not to stand up and run out of the restaurant.

It was her. Lady Miko, the kitsune that Ollie, Richard, Flake, Schneider, Richard and Lilly had met in the gardens earlier that day. Her kimono shone like untouched snow in the streetlight, while her nine tails waved softly over her head, looking everything like a crown on her midnight-black hair. She smiled behind a delicate pale-skinned hand, and said : **You wished to see a kitsune, little dragon?::**

If we’d been close enough to speak, I doubt I’d been able to. Instead, I made a tiny bow in her direction, not wanting to be seen. She returned the bow with a deep one of her own, dark eyes glowing in the night. **_::You’re as gorgeous as Richard said you were::_ ** I finally managed to say.

**::And you are quite handsome even if you do not think so,::** Lady Miko replied. **::By the way, do not be unhappy with the talents you have. Richard can handle the necromancer’s talent better than you can, not because you are weak or anything of the sort, but because far back in his genetic history, there was an ancestor with the talent. Most likely a woman, as most talents like that tend to run on the female side of a person’s lineage:**

**_::How did you know I was jealous of Richard?::_** I asked, feeling a slight blush of shame coloring my cheeks.

**_:_ :I know these things: _:_** Lady Miko replied with a sly wink. **::I have to go, little dragon and so do you, but I thought you should have one wish granted before you left Japan.::** With a flick of her nine tails, she disappeared into the night, leaving me staring out the window and feeling like a child on Christmas morning.

 “Something or someone catch your eye?” Paul teased me as we gathered our things to leave.

I grinned at him and said, “A little bit of both.”

 


	14. Chapter 14

The sense-memory of flames still coats my skin long after the show is done. I’m lying in my bunk in the back of the tour bus, twitching as I try to shake the feeling off but I’m not having much luck. Even though I’m relatively far from all the pyro effects, some nights I feel like I’m standing right in the middle of them no matter how cold the shower I’ve taken has been. I used to believe it was just me, but now I know it’s our shared memories. No matter how tightly we close ourselves off to our bond, some things leak through, and tonight it’s my inability to narrow my half of the bond down so I don’t feel the residual thermal heat coming from Richard and Paul.

Paul’s bunk is above mine so not only do I have to deal with him talking in his sleep, but now I have to put up feeling like I’m standing in front of a blast furnace thanks to him dreaming about the show we've finished. Richard is near the front in Lilly’s bunk so I don’t have to hear his soft snoring or his occasional babbling, thank heaven, but he's dreaming right along with Paul about the show, so the feeling of overwhelming heat is doubled. We’ve all been too busy to have any kind of romantic liaisons, which hasn’t been helped by the extremely erotic dreams I’ve been having. Being hot in both meanings of the word is beyond irritating, since I need to get a few hours’ sleep before the next show. And as aroused as I am, I have zero energy to do anything about it, which only adds to my bad temper.

**_::Can’t sleep?::_** Till murmurs **. _::Are you coming down with something?::_**

  ** _::No, I’m just in a horrible mood and I’m tired and…well. Why aren’t you asleep?::_**

  ** _::I was working on some lyrics that got stuck in my head when I was getting a shower::_** Till replies.  **_::And you’re broadcasting. I don’t know how everyone else is ignoring it but any louder and people without any talent at all would hear you::_**

 I swear in multiple languages as I flop over on my side and bury my face in my pillow, trying to find a comfortable position. It doesn’t help because I can smell Lilly’s perfume and Richard’s shampoo mixed with my own body wash and a hint of the muscle rub I use on my knees occasionally. **_::Sorry about that. I’m locked down as tight as I can be but I'm so tired...::_**

 Till says nothing, carefully adding a ‘layer’ of his own strength to me so I can fully lock down my emotions and not disturb anyone else. **_::Bless you Till::_** I reply.  **_::Are you sure I didn’t wake you up?::_**

  ** _::Nah. I did want to ask you something. If it's too personal I'll shut up but...how do you handle being with both Richard and Lilly?::_** Till asks, shyness flavoring our connection. He might look like he eats babies for breakfast and pillages his way through every city we stop at, but believe me, Till is very, very shy. I've known him forever and sometimes his shyness surprises me, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. I take a moment to think over what I want to say, then reply, **_::It's not easy. You know how Reesh can be about Lilly, how jealous he can get, and you know Lilly would decimate anyone who looked sideways at Reesh. I never thought I'd be involved with another man and it's quite different than being in a relationship with a woman. I can't baby Reesh the way I would Lilly, for one, and I have to balance working with them with being their partner. You have to be ultra-attentive to their feelings, you can't be selfish, and you can't lock yourself away. Every line of communication has to be open, you have to respect your partners' feelings, and you have to choose your battles.::_**

 Till is quiet for a long time; I can tell he's thinking and not fallen asleep on me. Finally, he says almost too quietly for me to catch, **_::I wish I was as lucky as you three.::_**

 I don't have any advice; nothing I can think of isn't clichéd or something he's heard a million times before. I know he's lonely for something more than a one night stand, he's said so before when it's been the two of us hanging out and he's especially mellow or depressed. Right now the depression has the upper hand; if I don't say something comforting soon, he's going to be up all night in a funk darker than the inside of a cat. As I'm racking my brain for the best answer, Lilly slides into the link with a whispered **_::Love will come to you, Till. I'm not the best when it comes to fortune-telling but I have this feeling that when you're not looking, she'll show up and you'll wonder whatever you did without her::_**

  ** _::Are you sure?::_** Till sounds like he's four years old again, asking his mother if Santa Claus will stop at his house on Christmas Eve, and it breaks my heart. I hide the feeling as deeply as I can and say, **_:_**

**_:Of course. Look at me, I swore I'd never get involved with anyone ever again, and look who I ended up with. A gorgeous redhead. Oh, and Reesh.::_ **

  ** _::I heard that, you snarky little bitch. Keep it up and I'll duct tape you to the top of the tour bus::_**

 By this point the three of us are giggling madly and trying to muffle it as best we can as not to wake everyone else up. Paul's muttered, “What the fuck is so funny?” shuts us up long enough for him to go back to sleep, and we start giggling again. It's enough to break Till out of his funk and relax me enough to become drowsy; rather than spend the rest of the night alone, I sneak up into Lilly's bunk, shove Richard into a corner and curl up with them.

  ** _::It's a good thing you haven't gained any weight, what with all the pastries and chocolate you've been eating::_** I tell Richard as he mutters evil curses at me as he tries to make himself comfortable again. **_::And that you don't have boobs on top of that. We'd never fit in here. If you had boobs, they'd be Texas-size, triple E cups::_**

  **:: _You wish, Christoph_ ::** he half-snarls, half-laughs at me. **_::Shove over, okay? You're taking your third of the bed out of the middle!:_** _:_

  ** _::Boys, enough::_** Lilly chides us, coaxing me into the middle of the bed as Richard arranges himself around me. **_::Keep me awake and both of you are going to be duct taped to the top of the tour bus::_**

**_::Yes m'am::_** we reply, as we laugh ourselves to sleep.

 :::

 

When we arrive in Ireland, management has somehow connived, begged or bribed us rooms at the tiniest hotel---no, _cottage_ \--- I've ever seen. It's very much like the TARDIS, as it is much bigger on the inside than the outside, and looks as if it's been plucked out of a Hollywood movie set. It has a sod roof, now bright green in the early summer light, a few blue flowers poking up out of the grass, plastered over stone walls inside, and wood everywhere else. Celtic knotwork crawls along window frames, along the smoke-darkened wooden beams in all the rooms, and up in the corner of every window is a stained-glass Brigid's Cross in shades of blue and green. The hotel overlooks the rocky beach below and even with the windows shut, I can still hear the waves murmuring along the shoreline. Till is immediately captured by its rough beauty; he's only in the main room long enough to dump his gear before he disappears down the long flight of stairs to the beach. The woman who runs the hotel only laughs when he speeds by us without a word, saying, “A true sea lover, I'll bet. Don't worry, there's only the dolphins and birds down there, he won't be disturbed.”

 “ _Dolphins?_ ” Paul exclaims, letting his bags fall onto my foot as he runs after Till. I jump back just in time to avoid having my toes scrunched, and shake my head as Paul yells for Till to wait for him. Art laughs and asks Dmitri to throw Paul's luggage in his room when he has a moment, then goes back to talking with the hotel owner, a handsome woman in what has to be traditional Irishwoman’s clothes with grey hair and bright green eyes who introduces herself as Elsa. She tells us that she only takes a maximum of eight people at a time, and only during certain times of the year. Art, Dmitri and a few other folks are a couple of kilometers up the road from us in a more modern hotel but none of us care for we are utterly, completely under this lovely place’s spell. Even our resident misanthrope, Flake, is wandering about the tiny front room, trying to see everything at once, and hasn't said a word.

 My attention is dragged away from gazing out the window to Elsa saying, “So, that’s one room with a queen size bed and the rest as usual? Haven’t had to open up the honeymoon suite for a bit. Who’s the lucky couple?” For a second, Richard, Lilly and I all freeze in place, staring at each other like deer caught in the headlights of a semi. Dmitri steps into the silence and says, “Our lovely doctor, Lilly, and this fine fellow here,” as he pulls Richard up next to him. Elsa smiles widely at them and presents Lilly with an ornate iron key with a long, gold, silken tassel hanging from it. “I think you two will love this room. It overlooks my rose garden and the forest and is as private as can be.”

  ** _::Oh Chris, I’m sorry::_** Lilly murmurs to me. Richard says nothing but I can feel the psychic equivalent of a hug ghosting around my shoulders. **_::Maybe you can sneak in with us when no one’s looking::_**

  ** _::Silly woman, I’m fine::_** I reply, returning the ‘hug’ and seeing Richard’s eyes lighten. **_::I thoroughly intend to sneak in tonight and I don’t care who’s looking!::_** Ollie looks over his shoulder at me and gives me an impish grin and says **_::You’re a screamer, Schneider. You sure about that?::_**

  ** _::How the hell would you know, Riedel?::_** I reply, feeling a blush rising up my neck. Ollie shakes his head at me and replies, **_::I’ve roomed with you and next to you for how long? You scream like a girl.::_**

  ** _::I’m not having this conversation::_** I mutter, grabbing up my bags and following Elsa up the short flight of stairs to the rooms everyone but Lilly and Richard will be in. My room is at the top of the stairs, with Paul across the hall from me, Flake next door, while Till and Ollie’s rooms are opposite each other at the end of the hall. Elsa unlocks my door and hands me the key with a “Here you go, dearie,” and when I step inside, I forget my dismay at not being able to share a room with my partners.

 The room faces the ocean and the wide windows are thrown open to catch the breeze off the water. The furnishings are balanced between feminine and masculine looking, with the walls painted a light green that sets off the Celtic knotwork that runs along the top of the walls. The en-suite bathroom is tiny, barely able to hold the usual fixtures and I have to stifle a laugh at the thought of Ollie using the shower and smacking his head on the ceiling. I drop my bags in a corner, kick off my boots and flop down on the bed, sighing happily at its soft, sweet-scented embrace. We’re only going to be here two nights and I intend to spend at least part of that time down on the beach, letting the ocean’s song wash the exhaustion out of me.

 We all need the time off, even if it’s only 48 hours. Till’s voice is starting to become more and more ragged, as well as his bad knee acting up, and my shoulders are harder than granite. Even though we can heal up more quickly than a normal person can, we still strain muscles, bruise flesh and do damage that we’re not aware of until it’s too late.

 “Schneider, you awake?” Paul asks after knocking gently on my door and peering in. I sit up and say, “I thought you were down on the beach looking for dolphins. What’s up?”

 “Nothing much, though Till wants all of us down there as soon as we can get there,” Paul replies with a sneeze. I look at him with dismay and he replies, “It’s nothing, just not used to so much salt in the air and sand. If you’re too tired…”

“I’m fine,” I reply, slowly prying myself out of the bed’s embrace and searching for my boots. “Any idea why Till wants everyone down on the beach?”

“The dolphins spoke to him,” Paul says quietly. “He said they’ve been yammering at him ever since we got here and they realized a “not human” was here. So to be polite, he told the pod that he’d have the rest of us come down to greet them as soon as we could get there. The kittens are gonna hate us for this, that we got to meet dolphins and they didn't!” I snort-laugh as I pull my boots back on and tie my hair back so the sea breeze won’t turn my hair into a rat’s nest. Paul is nearly vibrating with excitement as he leads me, Flake and Ollie out the door. Richard and Lilly are standing at the top of the staircase, waiting for us, and we almost fall down the stairs several times in our eagerness to see the dolphins. Till is standing in the water, jeans rolled up to his knees and boots on a rock, well out of the water.

There is one dolphin floating patiently beside him while he carefully pets its snout, and four more just out of reach. They come closer when Till hails us and raise themselves out of the water enough to get a good look at us. Till pats the dolphin next to him again and says, “This is Pher. She hasn’t introduced the others because they’re a bit shy around people, so don’t be disappointed if they suddenly leave or won’t come any closer.”

I kick my boots off and roll my jeans up so I can step into the water, and bite a yell back as the water is colder than I thought. Till snorts at me and takes a gentle grip on my arm so the waves don’t knock my feet from under me. I stand as still as I can and say, **_::Hello Pher. I’m Christoph. It’s nice to meet you::_** Pher dolphin-grins at me and pushes her snout under my hand so I can pet her. It’s like petting a velvet-covered ball of gelatin that smells of fish, salt and ocean water, but is warm as blood.

_::Hello Christoph::_ she replies, her mental voice as soft as silk. I pet her for several moments, stunned that such a magnificent wild creature is allowing me to touch her. I move away so everyone else can meet her, watching the four dolphins that are staying away from us cruise through the cold water, obviously guarding Pher in case one of us might try to do something harmful. Lilly is beyond herself with delight, going so far as to kneeling in the icy surf to be eye to eye with Pher.

_::I am glad to have met all of you::_ Pher says as she begins to float back out into deeper water. _::We do not see many not-humans these days. It has been a long, long time, far before my mother’s-mother’s-mother was born::_

Ollie is sitting on a rock just out of the range of the waves; he frowns as he says, **_::And even if humans could hear you, how many would leave you alone or take you away to do experiments on? Please be careful, Pher.::_**

Pher rises up and tail-walks backwards, chattering happily at the top of her lungs. _::We are careful, Ollie. But thank you anyway. Gentle seas and safe waters to all of you::_ With a leap into the air that takes her several feet above the water’s surface, Pher leaves us, her escort following in her wake, jumping and nattering as they swim away. We watch them until they vanish from sight, then sit down on the rocks around Ollie, lost in wonder at what we’ve experienced. We seven sit there as the sun goes down in a flash of red and orange beauty, only leaving the beach when Art calls down the stairs that it’s time for dinner and we need to move before the tide comes in.

That night, we all dream of sitting on the beach in our shared dreamscape, watching Pher and her pod playing in the starlit beauty of the never-ending ocean.


	15. Chapter 15

“Finally, a bloody break that’s not more than an overnighter!”

Richard looked up at Till, who was scrubbing stage makeup off his face with enough force to turn his already-reddened skin pinker. He was in fine form, physically and vocally, and was raring to have an evening out with “just the boys.” Lilly had returned to Berlin, saying that she needed a break from all the testosterone she’d been living with and to be with the kittens Marley and Fiona, who’d only seen their ‘parents’ off and on for over three months. The rest of the band would follow in the morning to begin their month off before the next two months of tour dates. Thankfully, four of the dates were at large music festivals where there would be other bands playing, so they could get in a bit of visiting with friends in the industry before their set.

Already cleaned up and waiting for Till and Schneider to finish, Richard stared down at his mobile and re-read the text he got from Lilly an hour before the show: _“_ _Good to be home but missing you and Chris. The kittens say hello and want their_ _“_ _Papa_ _”_ _home soon. Better find a way to pick up cat treats on your way home, else they won_ _’_ _t let you in the door. Have a good show tonight!_ _”_

He would have taken the time to write a longer answer but hearing Till bustling around and Schneider yelling at Paul to help him find his other boot, Richard knew that he won’t have the time. Instead, he wrote: _“_ _Show went very well, we_ _’_ _re all so glad to have time off it_ _’_ _s not funny. Chris sends his love to you and the kits and yes, we_ _’_ _ll bring treats home so we can bribe our way in. I miss you so much it fucking hurts._ _”_

“Come on Reesh, let’s go get into a little trouble,” Paul said, throwing Richard his leather jacket after shrugging into his own. Schneider was leaning against the door-frame, brightly-patterned silk scarf in shades of scarlet and bronze around his neck and wearing his weathered brown leather jacket, dark curls spilling onto his shoulders. When Richard was close enough to whisper, he said, “Damn. Why do you have to look so fuckable every second of the day?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Schneider replied, sneaking a kiss before anyone else could see him. His blue-green eyes had the merest hint of blue-black eyeliner around them, making them stand out more than usual, and Richard felt a pleasant tightening in his groin that made him shiver. “Are you sure you want to go out to some stupid bar?” he asked.

“We’d better put in an appearance, else we’ll never hear the end of it from Paul or Till,” Schneider replied, holding the door for Richard as they walk into the cool, late Summer evening. “We can always duck back to the hotel and leave early if you want.”

 “I might take you up on that,” Richard replied, falling in next to Schneider as they walked the block and a half up to the bar that Flake had spotted earlier that day. Richard didn’t remember it, but Till and Flake did; hopefully the evening would be a moderately quiet one. While Richard mostly liked the usual hustle and bustle of being a celebrity, he honestly wanted to be home with Lilly, the kittens, and Schneider. As the band stepped into the warm darkness of the bar, Richard saw Paul’s shoulders stiffen as they stepped over the threshold. Till ran full into him, catching himself at the last second by grabbing Ollie’s arm. “Paul? What the hell?” he asked.

 A shiver went up Richard’s spine when Paul turned around, shaking his head as if he’d been smacked in the face. Something was going to happen, but he had no clue what it could be. Paul, however, pulled away from the others and stalked away, leaving the rest of the band to stand in the doorway, confused.

Paul had shown to be the strongest of them when it came to seeing the future, even if it was only an hour ahead and not always correct; whatever he’d seen either angered him or scared him. Richard carefully ‘pinged’ him, only to be met with a polite brushing-off. He tried to catch Paul’s eye but had no luck; when he mentioned this in an undertone to Ollie, he shook his head. “I have no clue,” Ollie said. “One second he’s talking his usual mile a minute and the next he stops like he’s hit a wall and gets that look on his face. I guess we’ll have to wait until he chooses to tell us what he saw.”

 “God, I hope this isn’t the bar that Flake and Till got thrown out of when some knuckle dragger decided he was going to try and take Till on in a slap fight five years ago,” Christoph said to Ollie and Richard as they located Paul in the crowded room. He was already at a table in the very back, staring at his mobile phone and looking like he’d rather be elsewhere. Richard sat down next to him and muttered, “Are you going to be bitchy all night, or tell me what the fuck is going on?”

 “I hate being able to see things that’re gonna happen,” Paul snapped back. “And even more when I know what I saw is going to be true.”

 “Well, shit,” Richard replied, pulling his jacket off and settling it on the back of his chair. His hair was still standing up on the back of his neck; now goosebumps were marching down his spine. “We’re not going to be in the middle of a bar fight, are we?”

 Paul dropped his face into his hands, scrubbing roughly at his chin. “Yes,” he finally admitted with a tired sigh. “And I don’t see any way out of it.”

 “Just when we thought things were going to settle down…” Richard growled, leaning over to pass the message along to the others, seeing dismay in everyone’s face but Till’s. He was itching for a fight and once again, it would be the rest of the band picking him up after the fight and settling ruffled feathers. **_::I swear to God, Lindemann, you_** ** _’_** ** _re eternally a sixteen year old kid with hormones and a bad temper!::_** Richard growled.

  ** _::I_** ** _’_** ** _ll try to behave myself, Reesh::_** Till replied, completely unrepentant. Signaling a waitress, Till ordered a round of vodka for the band, settling back to watch the ebb and flow of the crowds nearby. Paul shoved his shot glass at Ollie, saying, “Take it. Someone’s got to stay sober in case Till decides to wipe the floor with someone for insulting his haircut.” Even though the virus made it difficult for anyone in the band to get blind drunk, it was possible to get a decent buzz on, and Till obviously had an early start on getting there. The only one who touched his vodka besides Till was Richard, who knocked his shot back in one go, simply out of habit. He winced at the burn and blinked to keep the unexpected tears back in his eyes. “Russian vodka. I should have known,” he coughed, thumping himself on the chest to try and alleviate the burn.

 “Puts hair on your chest,” a woman’s voice came from behind him. Richard looked up and found himself staring into the greenest eyes he’d ever seen on a normal human. He blinked, momentarily lost in their dazzle, and finally stammered out, “Uh…ah…that it does. What the hell is it?”

 “Exactly as you called it, Russian vodka,” the woman laughed, tucking a strand of blue-black hair behind an ear. Her voice was full, husky and 100% Dubliner Irish, while her milk-pale skin with the faintest sprinkling of freckles backed up his guess. She was built much the way Lilly was, only not quite as busty, her hands showing that she was no pampered lady but that she worked with them for a living. Her scarlet sweater and black jeans weren’t out of place in the bar, the only jewelry she had on was an heavy, masculine-looking ring on the middle finger of her left hand. When she saw Richard’s gaze, she held it up and said, “I graduated from a university in America, it’s my class ring. I’m halfway through my residency here, but I’m moving to Berlin at the end of the year to finish.”

 Richard, who had been entranced by the deep violet stone in the middle of the class ring, hadn’t felt Paul ‘ping’ him but the kick on the back of his shins did the trick. Without blinking, he said, **_::What the fuck was that for?::_**

  ** _::She_** ** _’_** ** _s why we end up in a fight!::_** Paul exclaimed. **_::A guy she works with is here and he doesn_** ** _’_** ** _t like the fact that she_** ** _’_** ** _s not interested in him. He_** ** _’_** ** _s going to come up here, get in her face and when she tells him to fuck off, you get up and smart off to him and_** ** _…_** ** _well, that_** ** _’_** ** _s how it goes::_**

  ** _::Not if I can help it,::_** Till said, ocean-green eyes twinkling with mischief. **_::Introduce us, Reesh. I like the looks of her::_**

 The entire conversation had taken place in less than the blink of an eye, thankfully. Richard pulled his gaze from the ring and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” He poured the charm on, one eye on the green-eyed woman and the other on the dance floor. There was an eddy at the middle of the crowd that caught his eye but nothing more sinister.

 “I’m sorry, I’m usually not this rude,” the woman said, holding a hand out. “I’m Siobhan Danahur. It would be ‘Donahue’ if we were in the UK or the States.” Richard shook it, saying, “Would you like to meet the rest of the band? I’m assuming you know who we are.”

 “How could I not? You guys put on one hell of a show back home---Dublin, that is----last month!” Siobhan replied. “I was lucky to be right up front----well, until the pyro started going off! I thought my eyebrows were going to get singed!”

 “That was a good show,” Richard replied, swiveling around in his seat so Siobhan could move closer to the table. “We always like playing there. Gentlemen---and I use the term loosely, this is Siobhan Danahur. Say hello to the pretty lady who was brave enough to come up here and say hi.”

 Siobhan smiled and waved shyly at the others, reaching across the table to accept Till’s outstretched hand. The second their hands touched, they both went stock still, staring at each other as if they’d been struck by lightning. Till’s eyes went wide and he caught himself on the edge of the table before he fell over, and Siobhan's pale skin went paler.

  ** _:: I know her!::_** Till gasped down the link. **_::She's the woman I've been dreaming about!!::_**

 “I'm...I'm glad to meet all of you,” Siobhan stammered, stepping away from the table. Richard could see that she was going to lose her footing , so he quickly shoved a chair behind her before she fell. Smiling gratefully up at him, she said, “Sorry about that, I'm a bit light headed. I've been working a lot of long shifts with little sleep.”

  ** _::That's not why::_** Ollie said, hiding a raised eyebrow behind his shot glass. **_::I do believe she might be the solution to Till's shitty love life::_**

Trying to fill the awkward void that was trying to form, Paul asked Siobhan what she did for a living. “I'm going to be an emergency room doctor. I went to college in the States for my pre-med schooling and came back here to do my specialty work and get my MD. I've got friends in Berlin and one of the hospitals there offered me a spot to finish out my schooling, so I'm going to be there for another year or so.”

 “Emergency medicine? Talk about never having a boring day at work,” Till said, swapping seats with Paul so he could sit near Siobhan but not too close. She grinned at him and said, “You have to be a bit of an adrenaline junkie to be an emergency room doctor, but I guess it's family tradition. My mother and grandfather on my dad's side were both emergency room doctors, and my dad's a paramedic.”

 And with that comment, the two of them were off, conversation going from bizaare things she'd seen in the emergency room, to Till telling her about some of his more interesting near-accidents, to fishing, hunting, books, and their comparisons of the library at the University of Dublin and the Berlin State Library. Flake leaned over and commented in an undertone to Ollie and Paul, “If he was any happier I'd swear his vodka was spiked.”

 “A happy Till is a happy rest of us,” Paul replied with a grin. “She fishes and hunts, has a brain, an IQ higher than her shoe size and isn't blonde. What more could we ask for?”

 Richard was biting back a laugh at Paul's comment when a man who could have bench-pressed small delivery trucks for amusement shrugged his way through the growing crowd around the band. He was all rolling muscle, giving off waves of adrenaline and aggression so strong anyone could sense him coming, and from the look in his eyes, was not amused about something. He was dressed in city clothes but would have been more home in jeans, steel toed boots and a leather jacket, brass knuckles and a switchblade in his pocket. Paul hissed through his teeth, immediately recognizing the man from his glimpse of what could be and kicked Ollie in the knee.

  ** _::The hell? Damn it Paul, don't kick me with those stupid steel toed boots of yours, they fucking hurt!::_** Ollie snapped, rubbing his knee and glaring daggers at Paul.

  ** _::That's him!::_** Paul yelled, instantly getting the rest of the band's attention. Till didn't look up from talking to Siobhan, but a quick nod told everyone he'd heard. The man clomped to a stop next to Richard, tiny, piggish eyes giving him the once over, and said in a voice that sounded like rocks going down into a rock crusher, “Pretty boy, you'd better not put your hands on my girl.”

  ** _::Don't you dare stand up, Richard::_** Till warned. **_::Let me handle this::_**

  ** _::If you get us arrested or beaten into gelatin, I swear to God I'm going to forget not only your birthday but Christmas too!::_** Schneider snapped, sliding his jacket and scarf off. **_::I don_** ** _’_** ** _t want to be the one to call Lilly and tell her we_** ** _’_** ** _re ALL in jail!:_**

 Richard didn't stand up as he was told, but raised his head up and gave the man an up and down glare that spoke volumes. “It's none of your business if I did put my hands on her. She's not your property, as far as I can tell, and I'm sure if I did and she didn't want me to, I wouldn't touch her. What's the matter, not enough goats cross your bridge at lunchtime today?”

  ** _::Oh fuck me sideways, Reesh, you used more than two syllable words and a long sentence.::_** Schneider muttered. **_::He's going to kill us and not break a sweat::_**

 Till, who had been sitting quietly in the background, stretched his arms upward, seemingly in an innocent stretch. When he brought his arms down, he'd shed his jacket and was in a grey t-shirt that showed off his well-developed arms, shoulders and chest. Siobhan's eyes widened at the same time as she moved to let Till stand up. He levered himself to his feet and said, “Siobhan, do you know this...person?”

 “Unfortunately, I do. We work together. Brian, please go home. You're drunk and we've had this conversation before. I don't want to go out with you. I wouldn’t go out with you if I was paid to go out with you,” Siobhan said in a voice that could have curdled milk. Anyone who was sober would have seen how angry she was, but Brian’s alcohol-addled brain didn’t register a word she said.

 “I wanna know what you're doing with a bunch of fucking Germans,” Brian said, leaning over the table and all but squishing Richard, who wriggled out from under his over-muscled bulk with a squeak. “Fucking perverts. Got all the money and the pussy but you're still a bunch of ass pirates. I’ve seen your show, you couldn’t convince me none of you weren’t gay. You’ve got ten seconds to get out of here or I’ll throw you all out, one by one.”

 Ollie grabbed Flake and Paul out of the way as Till slid from behind the table, laying a hand on Siobhan's shoulder as he did. “I'll be back in a moment,” he said, nudging Richard out of the way. Schneider stood up slowly and gave Brian a sympathetic look. “You poor fucker. You've made Till mad. Bad, bad idea. I hope you've updated your next of kin with someone.”

 “You won't touch me, you stupid fuck. Fucking rock star will get one of your bodyguards to throw me out when I've every right to be here!” Brian yelled, pulling his suit jacket off and throwing it aside. His tie  followed after, and as he rolled up his shirt sleeves, he kept yelling insults at Till and the rest of the band. Till stood quietly, hands in his jeans pockets and one eyebrow raised, watching the drunken man rant and rave. When he came to a halt in his verbal tirade, Till sighed and said, “Are you done?”

  _“_ _What?_ _”_

 “I said are you done? Either shut your mouth and go home, or throw a punch, or whatever you've climbed out of your hole to do. We were having a lovely time before you showed up, and according to this lovely lady, she wants nothing to do with you. You're drunk and obviously not thinking straight, so take my advice. Go home, drink some water and go to bed. Waking up in a jail cell after drinking your way through a bar is no way to wake up. Believe me.”

 Brian growled and wound up to punch Till, who easily evaded the wild punch. Brian tried to land a couple more punches but each time, Till stepped out of the line of fire without much effort. By this point a crowd had formed nearby and were quiet, save for one of the bartenders calling the police. Art was shoving his way through the crowd having arrived at the bar only moments before Brian began harassing the band, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Till standing quietly, letting the other man wear himself out.

  ** _::Till, please don't hit him::_** Flake said. **_::He's so drunk he'll never feel it and knowing our luck he'll hit his head on something and kill himself::_**

  ** _::Nah, he's not worth the effort. Still, someone needs to settle him down before he hurts himself::_** Till replied cheekily. As Brian stepped in closer to Till, more than likely close enough to hit him, he reached out and gently 'shoved' the other man into sleep. To someone looking on, it looked as if the man had stumbled and hit his head on a nearby chair; Till caught him as he fell, lowering him to the floor. A couple of bouncers got through the crowd and pulled the unconscious Brian to his feet and towed him towards the door, smacking him in the face and finally upending a pitcher of ice water over his head. Art came to a stumbling standstill, gaping like a beached fish. “I leave you boys alone for FIVE minutes and you get into trouble!” he yelled.

 “We didn't do anything!” Richard protested. “We were sitting here and that idiot came charging up like a bull and started it!”

 Siobhan, who had been watching the entire thing with a semi-amused look on her face, said, “He's right. That idiot is a guy I work with who got in into his head that I was interested in him when I'm not. He's an alcoholic and has a bad temper, and I'll be damned to hell if I'll be seen in the same room with him again. I'm going to press charges and I think your band should, too. And I’m going to go to our boss in the morning and tell her about this. Brian will lose his job at the very least.”

 Art sighed and sat down in the chair Paul retrieved for him and accepted the glass of vodka he hadn't drunk. “I'm so glad we have a bit of time off coming to us,” he muttered. “It's going to take me that long to stop having nightmares about you delinquents.”

 “Hey! We haven't gotten in a _third_ of the trouble we used to!” Schneider protested. “No groupies running from room to room, no nasty phone calls from the front desk about someone trashing their room...”

 “No angry fathers, brothers, husbands, mothers or wives showing up with shotguns...” Till contributed.

 “No phone calls from one of us at three in the morning because we went running around and got lost in the middle of some Midwestern city that still has a grudge over us doing “Buck Dich...” Flake said wryly, poking Ollie in the shoulder, who snorted and hid his face in his hands so Art couldn't see the huge grin on his face. Till patted Art's shoulder helpfully as the poor man whimpered and tried to bang his head on the tabletop. Richard signaled the waitress for a round of vodka for them “And a couple aspirin too, he's gonna need it” as he pointed at Art, who had his head pillowed on Till's jacket at this point.

 Siobhan accepted her shot of vodka, clinked glasses with Till, and said, “This has been an interesting evening. Do you mind if I get your phone number and all that? I think I'd like to continue our conversation when we're not going to be rudely interrupted.”

 “We're leaving for home tomorrow but if you're coming to Berlin soon, I'd love to,” Till said, easing his mobile out of his pocket and ushering Siobhan off to a corner so they could exchange contact information in relative peace. She left shortly thereafter, kissing everyone in the band on the cheek and hugging poor Art, who was looking somewhat worse for wear but not as manic. “I'm on call tomorrow morning, eight to five in the evening. If you need something stronger than aspirin or a sedative, ask Till for my work number. It's been a lovely evening!”

 Till sat down and rested his head on Schneider's shoulder with a happy sigh.

 “I think I'm in love.”

 Art made a whimpering sound and passed out.


	16. Chapter 16

From: smithjones@***.com

To: gillian.duprix@***.com, gward@***com, raider90210@***.com

RE: Wrap up

With the tour ending, I will be returning to my office on September 1, 20--. It has been a pleasure working with all of you and I thank [REDACTED] once again for all their help in record keeping and research.

We will continue to keep tabs on these people; I for one am quite glad we were assigned to do so. They are all decent folk despite their public/on stage personas. I have had an amusing, eye opening time out on the road with them and wish them the best.

Again, thank you all very much.

::::

_“Hello Till, it's Siobhan. You wanted me to let you know when I was settled in Berlin. I've been here about a week and have finally figured out the tube system around Berlin. And I thought the Paris Metro could be confusing!_

_Anyway, I've e-mailed you my address at home and at work, plus my work and university schedule. Give me a call if and when you'd like to get together for tea and crumpets...erm, beer and schnitzel. Whatever. Hope the tour finished out well for you guys and please give a hug to your poor tour manager. When I last saw him, he was attempting to put a hole in the table at the pub we met at. And please tell Lilly I said hello. Bye!”_

::::

_“Hi mom, it's me. Uhm...there's something I need to talk to you and dad about. It's nothing urgent or bad, I just need to talk to you two soon. If you talk to Constance before I do, please tell her to call me as soon as she can. I tried to leave a message on her voice mail but it's full. Love to you both.”_

:::

_“Uh...Mom. Hi.  It's....it's Richard. Please call me as soon as you get this message, there's something I need to talk to you about. I know we haven't seen eye to eye on a lot of things but...well, I'll explain when you call. Bye.”_

:::

_“Dad, it's Khira. What's this I hear about you and Uncle Schneider having a thing? I thought you and Lilly were a couple? Not that I care but I don't like being the last to know. Call me as soon as you can; mom already has left a hundred messages on my answer phone and she's not happy.”_

:::

_“Chris? It's Constance. I saw the papers and to say mom and dad are upset is like saying water is wet. Please call me soon, I'm worried about you.”_

:::

_The shit has well and truly hit the fan and in a spectacular fashion. I don't know where the photos were taken but if I'd seen the person who took them, I'd have pitched them from the highest building into rush hour traffic. To say I'm mad is an understatement; I'm beyond furious right now and I'm not in the middle of it all!_

_One of the German tabloids printed a couple pictures of  Richard and Schneider backstage at one of our shows, arms around each other and looking very much interested in one another. There's also one of Reesh and Chris kissing, and it's not a friendly kiss. More like “trying to fuck in public but not fuck in public” kind of kiss. The article wasn't much better but as it skates the edge of what you can take someone to court over, there's not a lot we can do._

_Chris' parents have all but disowned him. Out of all of this, I'm so disappointed in them I'm sick to my stomach. I expected so much better of them, you know? And  Richard, his mother read him the riot act, and then he had to deal with Khira's mother going off at him. They haven't seen each other in years, Khira is a grown woman and she's angry over this?_

_Lilly...I'm not sure if she's handling this well at all. She puts on a good front, I'll admit, but I can feel the grief and hurt inside that she won't allow anyone to see. She's blaming herself for all of this. I tried to talk some sense into her but I can tell it went in one ear and out the other. Till tried to talk to her, so did Ollie and Paul, but again, I don't think she listened to them either._

_I'm lost and have no clue what to do, how to help, anything like that. And I hate it._

:::

From: gillianduprix@***.com

To: smithandjones@***.com

Dear God, have you seen the tabloids out of Germany? Whoever took those pictures got them sold before any of us in the office had a chance to get to them and if I find out who dropped the ball, I'm going to kill them. If you haven't, I've attached scans of the photos and articles. I feel horrible for these three and their families And I thought the English and American tabloids could be vicious.

Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help you, as well as help them. This isn't right.

:::

_I'm alone at last. I chased Richard off to bed only minutes ago and he went reluctantly. Chris is holed up in Richard's office with Marley and Fiona. He's halfway out of his mind with grief over his parents ripping him up one wall and down another over being in a relationship with Reesh. Thank heaven his sister Constance is on his side and very angry at their parents. At least he didn't have to overhear Reesh's phone calls with his mother and Khira Li's mother. I did and it's a good thing I'm too tired, else I'd have driven over to his mother's house and laid into her. Thankfully Khira talked him down from doing just that and told her mother and grandmother to fuck off. Then she spent a half hour talking to Reesh, Chris and finally to me, saying that if anyone said one wrong word in her presence, they'd be in for a world of hurt._

_Some fucker got photos of the the two of them backstage at one of the shows---we're not sure which one---and the tabloids are having a field day. I thought this kind of shit was something the American and English tabloids were good at, the article is on the fine line where you could claim slander...if there weren't photos. And it's very evident that they are quite interested in one another._

_Everyone else in the band as well as Arielle and Nele has called us tonight and while I know none of this is my fault, even having them tell me so hasn't stopped me from feeling guilty...and suicidal. I haven't felt this way in a long time and only knowing what killing myself would do to those I love has kept me from ending it all. So I sit here in the flowers, watching the moon rise over the city, and wonder where this is going to lead us._

_Especially since I found a smear of blood on my underwear this morning._

_This shouldn't be happening._

_It can't be happening._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ends part two of this series. I hope you all enjoyed it, and keep watching this space for the third part of this series. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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